


A Game of Cat and Mouse

by Insomnomaniac



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: AU, Animal Characteristics, Awkwardness, Based on this one fantastic doujin I read once that I sadly can't remember the name of, Blood, Cat!Kageyama, Cuddles, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mouse!Hinata, Pretty much torture, Resting Murder Face Kageyama, but not in a porny way, micro/macro, overtly creepy behavior, poor communication, this is probably trash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2018-10-03
Packaged: 2018-11-19 03:15:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 25,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11304582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Insomnomaniac/pseuds/Insomnomaniac
Summary: Kageyama is a house-cat with a simple, at times monotonous, but nevertheless enjoyable life. The introduction of an energetic little mouse named Hinata is never something he'd expected, but something that he came to be quite grateful for.Basically just an excuse for me to write a bunch of garbage with tiny Hinata and animal characteristics. It's based on that one doujin that I loved so much I felt the need to create content for it.





	1. Chapter 1

Kageyama Tobio was a simple housecat with a simple life, and he was more than okay with that. While the occasional stray would show up and taunt him about being “a domesticated pussycat” and not “living up to what a real cat was supposed to be”, it never really impacted him. Sure, he found it annoying, but that was purely because he wasn’t the most social creature, and not because their words actually meant anything to him. He’d spent the first few years of his life as a stray, and he had the scars to prove it. If that was “living up to what a real cat was supposed to be”, then he was perfectly content to never again be a “real cat”. 

Ever since his family had adopted him from the shelter he’d been tossed into, Kageyama had lived his days in a comfortable, well-fed paradise of cozy cushions and frequent naps. He loved his family, and he’d always be grateful to them for bringing him into the heaven that he now called home. 

His favorite of the three humans was definitely Ellie, a fact that surprised even him sometimes. Normally, he was antisocial and brooding, so it made no sense for him to like the overly-energetic, intensely-clingy little girl, nevermind prefer her to her more even-tempered, quiet parents. However, despite Ellie’s considerable lack of respect for his personal space and her constant shouting, Kageyama found himself to be extremely fond of the eight-year-old, even going so far as to tolerate her pulling on his tail; an offense that otherwise would be met with a swift swipe of his claws and a hiss. 

It wasn’t really that much of a mystery why he liked her though; he was indebted to her. After all, it had been Ellie who had convinced her parents to go to that shelter in the first place, with her months of crying and begging for a pet. It had been Ellie who saw the scrawny, scratched-up black cat hiding in the corner of his cage and thought “that’s it, that’s the one I want”. It had been Ellie who’d talked her parents into adopting the brooding, semi-feral kitten she’d fallen in love with, rather than a younger, more docile cat who wouldn’t be as much trouble. It had been Ellie who’d saved him from a short life of misery and given him happiness. He figured all that was more than worth the occasional bit of tail-pulling. 

It was on a seemingly unassuming day in early May that Kageyama’s life was changed forever. Ellie had gone off to school a few hours earlier, with a big hug and an exuberant “Bye Kage! Be a good kitty while I’m gone, okay?!”, and her parents had left for work not long after, meaning Kageyama had the house all to himself for several hours. This was time he normally spent napping, and indeed, he had planned to do so that day as well, but before he could really get himself comfortable on his favorite cushion, he heard a strange noise coming from the kitchen. 

At first, he debated just ignoring it and continuing on with his initial nap plan, but the noise wasn’t stopping. If anything, it was getting louder. But what really prompted him to go investigate was the fact that he recognized the noise to be a voice; a voice calling for help, nonetheless. Bewildered as to who could have possibly made it into the house, Kageyama followed the voice, entering the kitchen and then stopping abruptly in his tracks, staring down at what was obviously the source of the cries. 

It was a mouse. Kageyama had never seen a mouse, at least, not a live one, but he knew enough about mice to recognize one when he saw it. The little mouse had gone silent once the cat had entered the room, his brown eyes wide in terror and his round orange ears flattening back into his equally orange hair, his tiny hands clinging tightly to his long pink tail like it was some kind of security blanket. The mouse-boy was trembling like crazy, and he looked more than ready to bolt, but the reason why he didn’t was obvious; he was stuck. 

Kageyama vaguely remembered a conversation the parents had been having last night. Apparently, one of them thought that they’d seen a mouse running around recently, and didn’t want their furniture and food getting ruined. Not to mention, they seemed to be quite terrified of rodents in general, which certainly didn’t help the situation. He distinctly remembered the other parent consoling the first, and promising that they’d set up some glue traps around the house to try and catch any little pests that may be afoot. Kageyama also remembered a bit of a joke they’d made at his expense; something about needing the traps because all he’d do was just lick a mouse if he saw one, not get rid of it like a cat typically would. 

Kageyama eyed the tiny creature stuck in the glue trap. He thought to himself that perhaps there was some truth in what the parent had said, as he did indeed feel the strange urge to lick the mouse. Why? The reasoning behind it was beyond him, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t an unusually compelling idea. 

_ “Ah, what the hell? Why not?”  _ Kageyama thought with a sense of resignation. If his stupid instincts were urging him to do something, then he didn’t particularly see any reason not to do it. Might as well just go with the flow. He licked the mouse. 

Needless to say, the mouse-boy didn’t seem to appreciate that very much. The poor little guy was paler than a sheet and trembling even harder than before. Hell, he looked like he was about three seconds away from fainting in fear. 

Kageyama internally reprimanded himself. Why the hell did he do that? There was no actual reason for him to do it, and all it’d accomplished was terrorizing some helpless little creature. Was he trying to scare the poor guy to death? 

He was snapped out of his thoughts by a small, quivering voice. 

“P-please don’t, please don’t e-eat me! Please I-I-I don’t want to die! Just let- let me go and I swear I’ll- swear I’ll never come back. Please!” The mouse begged, his tiny paws wringing together and pulling his tail closer to his heaving torso, little orange ears shaking from their flattened position in his hair. 

Kageyama paused for a moment. Did he even  _ want  _ to eat the mouse? Now that he thought about it, he wasn’t sure he did. Not only was he not a big fan of killing things, but he never really liked meat all that much. He was much more a tuna kind of guy. Plus, the mouse looked like he’d be more bone than meat, and just the thought of sickening crunch that would come from actually trying to eat this guy made him nauseous. And that wasn’t even touching the whole fact that this was clearly a sentient being pleading desperately for his life, a fact that left a distinctly bad taste in the feline’s mouth. 

He quickly came to the conclusion that no, he absolutely did not have any interest in eating the mouse, but that then raised the question of what to actually do with him. He loved his family, and one of the parents was clearly terrified of mice. He couldn’t just let him go, could he? Wouldn’t that upset the parent? But that meant that he’d have to kill the mouse, and he wasn’t fond of that idea either. 

He’d apparently been glaring at the mouse as he thought through the situation, because he was once again snapped out of his thoughts by a sound from the little creature in front of him. This time though, it wasn’t talking; it was crying. 

Large, heaving sobs broke forth from the mouse-boy as fat tears welled up in his wide brown eyes. He seemed utterly convinced he was about to be killed. Dammit! Why did Kageyama have to suffer from Resting Murder Face? The boy closed his eyes and tightened his grip on his tail in a way that Kageyama knew couldn’t be comfortable, clearly trying to brace himself for the swipe of razor-like claws or the bite of sharp teeth. The crying didn’t stop, and the shaking had only gotten worse. Damn, this guy was making Kageyama feel like a big bully! That settled it though, there was no way he was going to kill this mouse. He wasn’t sure what exactly he  _ was  _ going to do, but murder was absolutely 100% off the table. 

“Oi, you, dumbass. Cut that shit out!” He snapped at the mouse, who shrieked in terror and clamped his hands over his mouth in a feeble effort to stifle his sobs. Shit. Kageyama was really bad at this whole “not seeming threatening” thing. 

He eyed the mouse over again. The boy’s right foot was stuck on the sticky surface of the trap, though he’d apparently had the sense not to panic and get any more of his body stuck in the process. Good. That would make freeing him a lot easier. 

When Kageyama reached a paw over to help him, however, the boy wailed in terror and threw his arms up over his head to defend himself. Right. He was still under the impression that he was about to be murdered. Kageyama slowly withdrew his hand, careful not to make any sudden movements that might further frighten the already terrified mouse. From what he knew about mice, they had rather small hearts that beat very fast, and a part of him was beginning to worry that if he freaked this boy out anymore than he already had he might end up giving him a heart attack. 

After he withdrew his hand, Kageyama waited for the mouse-boy to relax before trying anything again. He would only end up hurting him if he tried to free him while the redhead was in a state of panic. He needed the boy to calm down first. He tried his hardest to make his face look as inviting and non-murderous as possible. It was an effort. 

Several seconds passed before the mouse moved again, slowly lowering his arms and peeking his eyes open incredulously, though noticeably still shaking more than was ideal. He needed to get this guy to chill out. The two stared at each other in tense silence for a few more moments before Kageyama tried speaking. 

“Um, hello there.” He said, not failing to notice the mouse’s fearful squeak at the sound of his voice. God he was bad at this. “Uh, my name is Kageyama. Kageyama Tobio. I live here. What’s your name?” The mouse-boy’s wide brown eyes just stared at him, his paws returning to clasp at his tail as he shook. 

Kageyama waited a second. Then another. Then another. Still, no response from the smaller being. This guy could talk, right? He was sure he heard him talk earlier! Had he only imagined that? As he was beginning to wonder whether or not he’d begun hearing things, a small voice, barely audible, hit his ears. 

“H-hinata Shouyou.” The mouse-boy, Hinata, replied, still looking at him as though he were death itself. Something about that saddened him. Kageyama didn’t really want to be threatening, at least, not to those who couldn’t really defend themselves. He was just guarded. He didn’t like playing the role of the bad guy. 

“Um, are you… injured, at all, Hinata?” He asked. He needed to know if there were any areas he should avoid contact with when trying to extract him from the trap. That and he didn’t want to go through all the trouble of saving this kid just to have him die five minutes later from some injury he’d neglected to mention. 

Hinata didn’t reply, still staring fearfully up into Kageyama’s gray eyes. His hands had gone white-knuckled with how hard he was clinging to his tail, and his claws had apparently begun to do damage, as evidence by the tiny little beads of blood that began surfacing on the textured pink skin. 

“Hey, quit doing that!” Kageyama barked, quickly realizing his mistake as Hinata squeaked in terror once again, shrinking back in on himself to cower. God.  **_Dammit!_ ** Why did he have to be so terrible at not being terrible? 

He decided against trying to smile. He knew for a fact that his forced smiles made him look like a psychopath, and that combined with the actual bearing of his teeth made for a counterintuitive action. He wanted to help this mouse, not frighten him to death. He instead tried to settle for a more neutral expression. One that didn’t scream “I’m about three seconds away from literally ripping your head off”. 

“I didn’t mean to yell.” He said, trying his best to make his voice sound less growly, but not friendly to the point where it was disturbing. “I just meant that you should ease up on your tail a bit. You’re hurting yourself.” 

Hinata blinked, then looked down at his tail, starting a bit when he saw the blood. Apparently he hadn’t even felt it. He loosened his grip on his tail a bit, clutching it closer to his chest before glancing back up at Kageyama. His posture and expression were still fearful, but he’d stopped shaking so much, and Kageyama almost thought he saw a glint of hope begin shining in the boy’s brown eyes. Good, he was finally calming down a little. Interpreting this slight change in behavior as a good sign, he pushed forward. 

“Right so, other than the scratches on your tail, are you hurt at all?” He asked again. Hinata hesitated a second before slowly shaking his head no, his bright orange ears flopping slightly and his big brown eyes never leaving Kageyama’s face. 

“Okay, good. That’s good.” Kageyama was about to reach for him again and try to help him out when a little voice inside his head stopped him. 

_ Hey dumbass.  _ The voice said.  _ Remember what happened the last time you just reached over without warning him first? He’s a mouse, you’re a cat. You get your paws anywhere near him without explanation and he’s gonna freak out. At least tell him what you’re doing!  _

Oh yeah. That might be a good idea. 

“Uh, okay, so, I’m going to try and help you get out of that trap.” He said. Hinata’s eyes visibly widened in disbelief. Kageyama didn’t blame him. If he’d been in that position, he would have believed him either. Nevertheless, he reached over. Predictably, Hinata squeaked and tried to lean away, his ears, which had just begun to raise up slightly, flattening back down into his hair in fear. Kageyama sighed and stopped, placing his hand back down. 

“Look, I know it’s hard to believe, and if I were you I wouldn’t trust me either, but please, just believe me when I say that I don’t want to hurt you. I’m not gonna eat you, or scratch you, or do any of the other nasty things that cats typically do with mice, I’m just gonna try my best to get you out of this thing, okay?” He said, and he meant it. Truly, he had no intention of hurting the little guy. He knew that it should be in his nature to want to torment mice, but the desire just wasn’t there. He supposed this came with not being a “real cat”, but it was just another thing he was fine with about that. 

Hinata eyed him warily for a few seconds, seemingly weighing his options internally, before slowly nodding his head, his brown eyes still fixed firmly on Kageyama’s gray ones. 

With the mouse-boy’s permission, Kageyama once again reached his paw over to him, this time with no protest, though he did notice that the boy still flinched at his movements. He supposed some things just couldn’t be helped. Careful to keep his movements slow and deliberate so as not to startle the little mouse, he began tugging on the boy’s leg. 

Hinata winced, clinging even tighter to his tail as Kageyama pulled. The cat made sure to keep an eye on the boy’s face as he worked, trying to make sure he wasn’t accidentally doing more harm than good. The mouse-boy’s foot seemed really stuck in there though. He pulled a bit harder, stopping abruptly when Hinata wailed in pain. Clearly this approach wasn’t working. 

“Sorry, did that hurt you?” He asked. Obviously it had, but he still felt the need to ask anyway. Perhaps as some way of reinforcing his point about not wanting to hurt the little mouse. 

“I-I’m sorry.” Hinata replied, “I’ll try and be quiet.” 

“Don’t be sorry. I don’t think this approach is going to work, at least not without causing serious damage. I’ll see if I can think of something else, okay?” Kageyama said. Something about Hinata apologizing for being hurt made him feel ill. He really, really hated how afraid of him the mouse was. 

He took his hand away from Hinata’s leg, pretending not to see the boy’s sigh of relief, and looked around the kitchen for something useful. Nothing jumped out at him. He frowned, making sure to turn his head away from Hinata as he did so, not wanting his facial expression to ruin the tentative trust he’d tried so hard to establish. 

_ Think. What makes sticky things less sticky? _ He thought to himself, desperately wracking his brain for answers. A memory flashed to the forefront of his consciousness, one of Ellie, just a few weeks ago, playing around with some of her parent’s poster putty. She’d been enthusiastically sticking it to various surfaces for several minutes before she began complaining about how dirty it was beginning to get. She’d gone over to the sink and washed it off, only to be dismayed at the fact that it wouldn’t stick to anything anymore. That was it! Liquid! 

Kageyama looked around the kitchen again, his gray eyes falling on a bottle of some greenish liquid sitting on the bottom shelf of the open kitchen cabinet. He managed to stop himself from springing over, reminding himself just in time that Hinata was still jumpy and likely to be frightened by sudden movements, but he made his way over to the cabinet and grabbed the bottle, bringing it back to Hinata as quickly as he could without startling him. 

Hinata’s brown eyes looked up at him, and then to the bottle, and then back to him, confusion evident. Kageyama thought it best to explain before he just dumped a bunch of stuff on him. 

“This is a liquid. I remember something about liquids making sticky things less sticky. I thought I’d try it on the trap.” He said, then paused for a second before adding, “Does that sound okay to you?” 

Hinata glanced back at the bottle, and then back at him before nodding again, his rounded orange ears peeking up from his messy hair. 

Kageyama fumbled with the cap for a second before getting the bottle open and pouring some of the oily liquid onto the glue trap. He coated the surface of the trap, deciding that was probably enough for now, then reached over for Hinata’s leg again. 

“Okay, I’m gonna try and pull you out again. This time, the glue shouldn’t be as strong, so it should be a lot easier. But still tell me if it hurts, alright?” He said, to which Hinata nodded once again, noticeably more confident this time around. 

Sure enough, when Kageyama pulled again, Hinata’s leg came free with barely any resistance. He pushed the trap away from them, then released the mouse’s leg. Part of him was a little sad that Hinata would be leaving now; after all, it had been nice to to finally have someone to talk to who could actually understand him, but he understood why the mouse would be more than happy to get the hell away from him. Hinata however, didn’t move, and instead stared, wide-eyed at Kageyama, who found himself confused at the smaller of the two’s behavior. 

“Well?” He asked, “What are you waiting for? You’re free now. You can leave.” 

“Do… do you w-want me to leave?” Hinata asked, looking unsure. Kageyama blinked.

“... not particularly.” He mumbled. “You can stick around, if you want. I wouldn’t mind. Just so long as you don’t let my family see you and don’t steal anything.” Though he tried his best to sound nonchalant, internally Kageyama was begging the little mouse to stay. He wasn’t that bad, and Kageyama really could use a friend to hang around with during the time that his family was out. 

He glanced back down at Hinata, bracing for rejection. Instead, he got a brilliant, beaming smile from the mouse-boy, who had finally let go of his tail and was looking up at Kageyama with eyes full of excitement. 

“Really?! I can stay?! You won’t chase me out?!” He asked, his voice free of it’s previous nervously and instead filled with energy as he bounced slightly on his feet. 

Kageyama blinked again. Well this was quite the change. He decided that he much preferred this Hinata to the one cowering in fear. This one almost reminded him of Ellie. 

“Well, yeah, that’s what I said, isn’t it?” He replied, unable to keep his usual growl out of his voice. “You don’t give me a reason to chase you out, and I won’t chase you out. Just stay out of sight from my family and don’t cause trouble, and we won’t have any problems.” 

Hinata’s grin grew impossibly brighter. 

“Thank you so much Kageyama! You’re the best!” 

And then he did something that shocked both of them. 

He ran up to Kageyama’s left arm and wrapped his tiny arms around the feline’s wrist, his hands just barely managing to touch, and nuzzled his face into the cat’s soft skin. 

Kageyama was frozen, unsure of how to respond. He definitely had not been expecting this. Luckily, he was spared from having to respond, as Hinata pulled away only a few seconds later, beaming up at him again before scurrying away to another area of the house. 

Kageyama sat there a few moments longer, still processing the strange interaction before he finally stood up and walked back to his favorite cushion in the other room. 

His nap was long past overdue. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dear god this is fucking gay

The next time Kageyama saw the mouse again was about a day later, right after dinner. His family had just finished eating and gone upstairs for bed, leaving Kageyama alone in the now silent kitchen. Neither the “alone” nor the “silent” part stuck for very long, however, as not two minutes had passed before he heard the padding of tiny feet on the wood floor and an exuberant; “Hi, Kageyama!”  
  
He looked over. Hinata was scampering towards him with a big grin on his face and his hands behind his back, his tail bouncing slightly in time with his steps. He looked excited about something.  
  
“Hello again, Hinata.” He greeted.  
  
“Hey, hey, Kageyama, guess what? Guess what I found?” The little mouse asked, practically vibrating with energy.  
  
“I don’t know, what did you find?” He asked, more for the purpose of amusing the redhead than out of any actual curiosity.  
  
“No, no, Bakayama! You have to guess!” Bakayama? That was a new one. He wasn’t entirely sure whether to find that cute or insulting. He settled on cute. Despite Hinata’s newfound courage around him, he still didn’t want to risk responding to something in a way that’d scare him off. He figured he would wait until Hinata had a chance to get really comfortable with him; then he’d start retaliating. Oh, how dearly he looked forward to that day. He’d already started making a list of things he’d do, but that was besides the point right now.  
  
“Hm. I don’t know.”  
  
“That’s no fun! Come on, guess!”  
  
“Uhh… a lintball?” He guessed, just naming the first thing he laid eyes on.  
  
“Nope!” Hinata responded, giggling. It was nice to see him laugh, really a welcome change from seeing him cower.  
  
“I still don’t know. Are you going to tell me now or not?” He asked, his furry black tail swishing languidly back and forth as he watched the little mouse. He supposed he could just sit up slightly and find out; after all, he was so much bigger than Hinata that he could see what he was holding behind his back with no problem, but the mouse seemed so excited about it that he decided he’d rather let him have the pleasure of the grand reveal.  
  
“Okay, okay, fine, I’ll tell you.” Hinata said with a dramatic sigh, the effects of which were stifled by his still evident enthusiasm. “Iiiiiiiitttttt’sssss aaaaaaa…..” He really seemed to be enjoying dragging this out. “Shiny thing! Tada! Isn’t it super cool looking?!”  
  
Hinata had finally revealed what was behind his back and Kageyama froze, his tail going rigid. The mouse’s tiny paws were wrapped around a band of gold that Kageyama recognized to be the same one that one of the parents always wore on their hand. The same one that the parents had been stressing over losing just that night at the dinner table. Apparently, it wasn’t that they lost it so much as it had been stolen.  
  
Hinata still looked very proud of himself, beaming up at Kageyama and waiting to see his reaction. He must’ve been visibly upset, because the mouse’s face quickly fell.  
  
“Kageyama? What is it? What’s wro-”  
  
“Where did you get that ring?” Kageyama said, unable to control the hiss in his voice. Hinata went pale, flinching and curling in on himself slightly. Kageyama couldn’t bring himself to care about the mouse’s fearful reaction; he was too caught up in anger over the fact that he had trusted this little rodent to not steal anything, and in doing so had wound up upsetting one of his parents!  
  
“I-I uh, um, I found it…” Hinata stuttered, stepping back from Kageyama’s furious face.  
  
“Where?” He growled, causing Hinata to yelp as his ears flattened back into his hair.  
  
“I-it was just on the g-ground in one of the- the rooms upstairs, honest! I’m really sorry! I just thought- thought it looked pretty and I wanted to show you! I didn’t know it was i-important!” Hinata stammered out, shrinking in on himself and shaking.  
  
Kageyama thought it through. It made sense, he knew that the parent always took their ring off before they went to bed, something about how much they rolled in their sleep, so they easily could've knocked it off the nightstand in their sleep. Hinata couldn’t have known it was important; he just saw something shiny and picked it up. Kageyama probably would’ve done the same if hadn’t known what it was, which Hinata clearly didn’t.  
  
Well, misunderstanding or not, he needed to put that ring back in his parent’s room so that they could find it in the morning and stop being so upset about it. He rose up and reached a paw over to grab it, freezing when Hinata squealed and fell backwards.  
  
“No! I’m sorry! I’ll put it back! Please don’t hurt me!”  
  
Kageyama mentally kicked himself. Stupid! Hadn’t he just been thinking about not scaring Hinata again? He had just gotten the mouse to trust and what did he do? Start yelling at him over something the poor guy didn’t even understand was wrong!  
  
Kageyama sighed and retracted his hand, slowly laying back down on the floor and staring at Hinata, trying his best to switch his face out of it’s murderous setting.  
  
“It’s okay, Hinata, I’m not going to hurt you. I didn’t mean to get so intense, either. You didn’t know. I’m sorry. It’s just that that ring belongs to one of my parents, and I just heard them stressing about not being able to find it. If you just give it to me, I’ll put it back, and no harm done, okay?” He said, trying to sound as calm as possible.  
  
Hinata visibly relaxed.  
  
“Oh, I’m sorry. Here.” He said, scooting the ring over to Kageyama, who picked it up and walked silently up the stairs to his parent’s bedroom and placed it on the dresser, where he was sure the parent would be able to find it when they got ready the next morning. When he went back downstairs, Hinata was sitting in the same spot on the floor, clearly waiting for him to come back. When the mouse looked up and saw him, he took a deep breath and began speaking.  
  
“Look, Kageyama, I just wanted to say that I’m really, really sorry! I had no idea what it was or that it was important, I just thought it looked cool, but I shouldn’t have taken it, or I at least should have asked you beforehand, or I shouldn’t have been up there, or-” Kageyama cut him off.  
  
“No, it’s okay. It was an easy mistake. Just, promise me you won’t take anything anymore, okay?” He said. Hinata seemed conflicted for a second, before looking back up at Kageyama and smiling.  
  
“Okay, you got it! From now on, I won’t take anything! I’m gonna head to bed now, but see you later!” He said, before scampering back off in the direction he’d come from earlier. As he left, Kageyama couldn’t help but feel that that last smile hadn’t been genuine.  
  
(^=.=^)(^=.=^)(^=.=^)(^=.=^)  
  
It was another two days before Kageyama saw him again, and frankly, he’d begun to worry that he’d frightened the little mouse off for good last time. The parent had been thrilled to find their ring that next morning, and quickly seemed to forget about the whole thing, leaving Kageyama to pace around, chastising himself for his extreme reaction. Great, just great. He finally makes a friend and what does he do? Practically attack them over an incident that turned out to be nothing important. He found himself wondering if this was destiny, if he was simply doomed to a live a lonely life in which he fucked up every potential relationship with every person he ever came across by growling at them over dumb shit. Was he going to die like this? Probably.  
  
A soft noise off to his right snapped him out of it, and he looked over, his black ears perking up and swiveling in the direction of the sound. Ellie and the parents had left a short while ago, headed out for the evening to do… whatever it was his family did outside the house. He honestly had no idea, and frankly didn’t care what it was so long as they came back at some point. So if it wasn’t his family, and it wasn’t him, than that just left…  
  
Sure enough, Hinata stood there, the noise apparently having been caused by him tripping over one of the blankets that made up Kageyama’s den-nest-bed-thing (he wasn’t really sure what to call it, but it was comfy and he slept there so that was good enough for him), and the little mouse was picking himself up off the ground, blushing.  
  
“Sorry, I should probably pay more attention to where I’m walking,” he said, and Kageyama couldn’t stop the tiny smile that spread across his face. Thank god, he hadn’t scared him off! The universe was giving him another chance to make a friend, and he did not plan on blowing it this time.  
  
“No, it’s okay,” he replied, hiding his teeth back behind his lips as he talked. He eyed Hinata over, and as he did, he felt the beginnings of a frown start pulling at him. Something was… wrong with the mouse, though he couldn’t exactly put a finger on what. He looked a lot paler since the last time Kageyama saw him, though maybe that could be a trick of the light, and he seemed to be shaking as he stood back up, as if the effort involved in that simple act of standing was a tremendous one.  
  
“Hey, are you okay?” He asked. He couldn’t stop himself. Subtlety be damned, he was not going to beat around the bush here only to find out that Hinata actually needed help. The redhead in question froze slightly, his tiny paws wrapping around his tail in an action that Kageyama recognized as a nervous habit. Yup, something was definitely wrong.  
  
“W-what do you mean?” Hinata questioned. His voice was a lot weaker than it normally was, his big brown eyes less vibrant and his posture slumped and lifeless. The poor guy looked dead on his feet.  
  
“You don’t look too good. Are you sick? Is it life threatening?” Kageyama asked, leaning in closer and closer until he was practically laying on top of the mouse, desperately looking him over for some visible cause of his situation, not noticing the way Hinata’s breath hitched at his proximity.  
  
“N-no, I’m not- not sick. At least, I don’t think I am. I might be, I guess.” Hinata responded, gripping his tail tighter. Kageyama frowned.  
  
“Well then what’s wrong? You look like a corpse.” Hinata giggled slightly at that, but it wasn’t a very happy sound.  
  
“I’m just, hungry I guess. That’s all. ‘M not sick.” He replied, and Kageyama froze up, staring intently at the boy in front of him. That… would explain a lot, actually. The loss of color, the depleted energy, the overall lethargy; Hinata was just hungry. One problem with that though….  
  
“Why the fuck are you hungry?” He asked bluntly, blinking in confusion at Hinata. “There’s food, like, all over the place here.” Hinata averted his eyes.  
  
“I, um, I didn’t want to take anything that wasn’t mine. I did promise you, yeah?” He mumbled. Kageyama froze, staring at him in disbelief. Did he just hear that correctly?  
  
“Wait, so, you’ve been pretty much starving yourself… just so that you wouldn’t be taking anything?” He asked, incredulous.  
  
“Well, yeah. You said not to, so I didn’t.” Hinata replied. Kageyama just stared harder.  
  
“Holy shit, dude, what I meant was like, ‘don’t pick up random stuff you find laying around,’ not, ‘refuse to eat anything’! What were you going to do, anyway? Were you seriously just going to wait until you died?” He asked, aghast. Hinata blushed harder, snuggling his tail closer to his torso.  
  
“I, um, I didn’t exactly… think it that far through.” He muttered.  
  
“Yeah, no shit. Wait here.” Kageyama said, bounding off towards the kitchen. Sure enough, his food bowl was still there where he left it, about three quarters of the way full. He never ate the entirety of his dinner, he simply was never hungry enough. The feeling of having more food than he even knew what to do with was one of the biggest things he’d had to adjust to when he’d gotten adopted. He grabbed the bowl and walked it back to tiny closet where he’d chosen to set up his living space. Hinata jumped slightly when he slammed the bowl onto the ground in front of him.  
  
“There, go crazy.” He said, and Hinata’s eyes went as wide as saucers.  
  
“W-wait, are you- are you serious?!” The mouse asked, staring at him as though he were crazy.  
  
“Yeah, I’m serious. I don’t want it, you clearly need it, so go nuts. It’s all yours.” He said, rolling his eyes and doing his best to feign indifference. In reality, he was silently praying to whatever celestial forces may or may not exist that Hinata not insist on being polite here and just eat it. He would never be able to forgive himself if the first and only person he really thought he could consider a friend fucking starved to death while he stood by with more food than he could manage. The irony was physically painful to him.  
  
Hinata stared at him a moment longer, glancing from him to the food bowl, then back to him, then back to the food bowl, etc, until he finally lunged forwards, practically burying himself in the mounds of kibble that Kageyama had neglected to eat earlier, his long pink tail soon the only thing visible from where the cat watched. He suppressed a grin. Honestly, that was kind of adorable.  
  
The mouse proceeded to scarf down a fair portion of food in frankly record time, before slowing down and finally coming to a stop after about two minutes. The bowl was still mostly full, but Hinata looked satisfied, and may or may not have eaten himself into a food coma, if his tired swaying was anything to go by. He hefted himself up out of the bowl, rolling gracelessly down onto the floor and groaning. Kageyama laughed at that, and when Hinata looked up, he was smiling too.  
  
“Ooooohhh, god, I think this is the end,” Hinata moaned dramatically. “I can’t move, I’m gonna die here.” Kageyama snickered, staring at Hinata and mentally weighing his options, before finally just deciding ‘screw it’, and extending his right paw over, careful not to alarm the seemingly incapacitated mouse. Hinata just lazily watched him.  
  
Slowly, he scooped the redhead up into his hand, watching closely for any signs of protest from the tiny boy. He received none. If anything, Hinata looked pleasantly surprised by the turn of events, which Kageyama interpreted as a good sign. He shifted slightly, leaned forward, and then gently placed the mouse down onto the edge of his blanket pile before curling up in the center, cautious not to accidentally crush the little guy. Hinata looked confused, but not displeased.  
  
“Um, what are you doing?” He asked. Kageyama tried to keep his expression blank.  
  
“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m tired, you’re tired, and there’s a huge pile of soft stuff right here. I don’t see why this is complicated.” God, he really hoped he sounded nonchalant. Hinata continued to stare at him blankly, so he continued, trying hard not to sound as desperate as he actually was.  
  
“I don’t move in my sleep, so I won’t crush you, no need to worry about that. You can just leave, or whatever, but like, I don’t know, you’re already here, so…” He trailed off, avoiding eye contact and laying his head down. What the hell was he thinking? Of course Hinata was going to leave. No matter how relaxed he may seem to be, he was still a mouse, for fucks sake, there was no way he’d willingly sleep next to a cat. Any logical being with a working set of self-preservation instincts knew better than to pass out next to a giant predator, that was just common sense. He tried not to take it personally.  
  
Hinata shifted next to him, and he braced himself for the inevitable sound of tiny paws on the closet floor as the mouse walked away. Instead, much to his surprise, he felt little hands grasping at his right paw, pulling it towards the edge of the nest. He allowed his hand to follow the movements, turning to look at the redhead, who nuzzled himself down into the nest and pulled the cat’s paw down on top of himself, like a huge blanket. Kageyama just stared, frozen, as Hinata squirmed around to get comfortable, eventually sighing and coiling himself around the cat’s index finger, leaving the rest of the larger boy’s digits outstretched around him like a shelter. He finally seemed to notice Kageyama’s staring, and quickly averted his eyes.  
  
“What?! You said you didn’t move, and you’re warm. Plus, I’m a mouse; we like having little hidey-places to sleep in, it’s not weird. I’ll leave if you want me to!” Hinata said, his face burning.  
  
“No, no that’s okay. You’re fine.” Kageyama replied, and he felt the relieved whoosh of breath leave Hinata’s torso at his words. Hell, he was pretty sure he could feel the mouse’s heartbeat like this, it’s rhythm much faster than his own as it pounded against the boy’s torso.  
  
Surprisingly, it didn’t take him that long to fall asleep. The warmth and steady breathing of another living thing turned out to be incredibly comforting, and he found himself drifting off after only a few minutes, subconsciously pulling the mouse in close to his chest as he curled up tighter around him, pressing him up close. That night, he slept better than he had in his entire life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always a slut for validation. Hit me up, it will literally make my entire fucking week.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluffy gay shit, and the arrival of an unforeseen complication.

Hinata quickly grew a lot more comfortable around him after that. Kageyama supposed that made sense, because if he trusted the cat enough that he was willing to not only fall asleep near him, but use his paw as a blanket in doing so, then that meant they were probably pretty well past the point of Hinata thinking he was about to be murdered. If Kageyama had wanted to kill him, (which, to be clear, he absolutely did not), then Hinata could hardly have made it easier for him to do so that time.

There were many benefits to this newfound sense of security, one of them being that Kageyama now had more room for jabs and jokes at the mouse’s expense, without having to worry so much about the tiny boy actually taking him seriously or getting scared. Granted, he still held back quite a bit, but it was nice to have the occasional laugh. 

The major benefit for both of them, though, was that they finally had another person to be friends with. This was a development that helped Hinata more than Kageyama, though it did certainly help Kageyama as well. The difference was that Kageyama had his family, and even though they couldn’t exactly communicate with him, they were still there and they still loved him. 

Hinata, on the other hand, had nobody. He’d been alone since one fateful day in September, one year ago, when the rest of his colony had left to go get food and then never come back. He’d been sick at the time, too sick to travel, so he’d only been able to lay there and watch as they all walked away. He’d waited for them for hours, then days, then weeks, and so on, desperately trying to believe that they’d come back for him, but when winter came, he’d been forced to face the truth; his colony was gone, and he needed to move. The place he’d been staying had been meant to be a temporary stop, not suited for the conditions of the season, and if he wanted to survive, then he would need to accept the fact that he was on his own and find someplace new to settle down before he froze to death. 

Isolation was a hard thing for a mouse. Granted, it was a hard thing for most anybody, but mice in particular are social creatures. Hinata had been born and raised with his colony. They lived together, traveled together, ate together, played together, etc. When nighttime came, Hinata would fall asleep pressed up against the comfortingly warm bodies of his colony, their collective breathing providing him with a sense of security and lulling him into a deep sleep. He wasn’t able to sleep like that anymore. The first few nights after his colony didn’t come back he spent restless and on edge, and it wasn’t until exhaustion claimed him a few nights later that he finally got some shuteye. Not the good kind of shuteye, not the restful kind, but the kind that happens when you literally can’t keep going anymore, the kind that’s just enough to get you on your feet and nothing more. 

He couldn’t help it, really. It wasn’t as though Hinata had been trying to stay awake, it was that he was too scared to fall asleep. Mice, by nature, are anxious beings. It’s a large part of why they lived in colonies; they needed the presence of others in order to feel safe. Those first few nights, Hinata found himself more on edge than he’d ever been. Every tiny movement or small sound from his surroundings nearly sent him into a panic, and the fact that he’d seemingly become hyper-aware of his environment really didn’t help. No matter how small he tried to make himself, how well he tried to hide, he still couldn’t shake the feeling of vulnerability, the feeling that there was a predator waiting somewhere in the dark, eyes fixed upon his exposed body, ready to pounce at any moment and rip him to shreds. Obviously, such feelings make it difficult to sleep.

Over time, it had improved to a level where he could sleep without having to be at the breaking point of exhaustion, but he never could quite get rid of the lingering fear that he was unprotected and about to be attacked. He’d lost a fair amount of weight from sheer nervousness in that year, it really was a miserable way to live. 

Befriending Kageyama had turned out to be the best thing for him. Not only did it provide him with someone to talk to, alleviating his stress due to social isolation, but it also provided him with a security blanket, both literally and figuratively. Figuratively, Kageyama was a predator, and a pretty damn imposing one at that, so Hinata felt much less afraid of a random attack by some unknown evil. Whatever it was, Kageyama could probably just hiss at it and send it running for the high hills, which was a very comforting thought. Literally, Kageyama allowed Hinata to sleep cuddled up next to him, providing the mouse with the body heat, pressure, and sense of safety that he’d craved for so long since the loss of his colony. That first night they slept together (no, not like that), when Hinata had damn near drowned himself in Kageyama’s food bowl, was the first night that the redhead had slept soundly in over a year. Hell, he had even dreamed! For the cat to provide him with not only peace but happiness, after having spent so long living in constant fear, Hinata found himself in a position of being incredibly grateful. He felt kinda bad that he couldn’t really do anything to return the favor.

Kageyama, on the other hand, had no idea the level of impact he’d had on the little mouse’s life. Even if he did know, he wouldn’t start demanding favors or other services in return. The way he saw it, just having the boy as a friend was payment enough, and he was happy to have him hang around. Though he would sooner stab himself in the gut than admit it, Kageyama was thrilled that Hinata had made a habit of sleeping with him since that first night. Part of him wondered, guiltily, if the only reason he did was because he thought that was what Kageyama wanted (it was) and he was just afraid of what Kageyama might do to him if he didn’t go along with it, but the other, louder part of him, was too happy about it to really look into the reasons why the mouse might have decided to relocate his sleeping arrangements. 

He couldn’t exactly explain why it was that he was so fond of the boy; after all, he was many of the things that Kageyama despised in people, but he just… was. Somehow, the little mouse had won Kageyama over, totally and completely, to the point where he found himself actually getting excited whenever he heard the pitter-patter of tiny feet on the floor. He found himself actually looking forward to bedtime, eagerly awaiting Hinata’s arrival, anticipating the stumbles as he climbed up the blankets, the sleepy brown eyes, the yawn that exposed miniature sharp teeth, the little smile and the drowsy “G’night, Kageyama!” as the boy settled himself down for the evening. He would sometimes go through the entire day just waiting for the moment when he’d get to once again feel the sensation of Hinata snuggling up against him, his warm little body curled up against Kageyama’s. He did this thing, usually right before he fell asleep, where he’d nuzzle his face into the cat beside him, round orange ears flapping with the movement, and sigh contentedly, all the stress leaving his small form as he slipped into sleep. Kageyama loved it, and found himself wishing, (though again, he’d never admit it), that the mouse was more willing to do such things even outside their shared blanket-nest. Sure, the sleep-cuddling was fantastic, but he’d like it if it could occur more often, and not just when the two went to bed. 

Another thing Kageyama had noticed but would sooner stab himself than admit was that he found Hinata to be… very cute. He’d tried to deny it at first, mentally arguing that his excitement over spending time with the boy and his accelerated heart-rate around the redhead was all just normal, totally platonic behavior. Nope, nothing to see here, totally friendship, keep moving. But, after the third night they’d spent together, when he’d been overwhelmed with the sudden, powerful desire to kiss the little mouse on the head (due to the size difference, that was about as good as he was going to get), he’d been forced to admit the truth; he had a crush on Hinata. 

He really wasn’t sure what to do with this revelation. How the hell are you supposed to deal with having a crush on somebody who is not only a fraction of your size, but also biologically predisposed to fear you? This wasn’t exactly the kind of thing you could learn about just by asking around. Not that he had anyone he could ask, anyway. The only person he talked to was Hinata, and that obviously wasn’t a conversation he was going to have. Eventually he’d just settled on the old reliable: shove it to the back of his mind and pretend it’s not there. Worked for him so far. 

So consumed was he by the orange-haired mouse and his newfound revelations regarding the aforementioned boy that Kageyama had all but forgotten about one particular aspect of his life that could very much pose a threat to his current situation. It was no small wonder he forgot about it; it wasn’t a very regular occurrence, and he’d had no reason to think about it in a while, so of course it would have slipped his mind. As such, Kageyama found himself utterly taken off guard one lazy afternoon when he heard Hinata scream from the other room. 

Up to that point, it had been a fairly average day. Kageyama had woken up when the sun was already high in the sky, and Hinata was long gone from his position in their shared blanket-nest. The mouse was by no means an early riser, but even he couldn’t compete with the legendary “once-pulled-a-smooth-22-hours” Kageyama, and frequently found himself up and about roughly three hours before Kageyama would even begin to stir. He wasn’t terribly bothered by it; he just wandered around the house and played little games with himself, or found some other means of entertainment. Sometimes, if the cat was feeling particularly lazy, Hinata would wander back over to their nest, snuggle back up against Kageyama, and take a nap. 

The family was out for the day, as was typical. Ellie was a very energetic child, involved in countless activities and classes from dance, to theater, to cooking, and several other things that kept the family away from the house for large blocks of time. Kageyama used to be far more bothered by it, but now that he had someone to spend the time with, he found he didn’t mind nearly so much. 

Hinata had been awake for roughly two hours by the time Kageyama finally got up, and he’d been passing the time by playing “treasure hunter”, a game he’d made up in which he wandered around the house and found things that looked cool, then bought them back to Kageyama to see if they were anything important. If yes, the cat would put them back where they belonged and Hinata could feel a sense of accomplishment for having helped. If no, then he got to keep them and add them to the little den he’d made in the front room. He didn’t sleep there any more, but he did keep his collection there, and it made a nice little place to hang out if he felt like having some time to himself. 

It was particularly hot that day, and several of the windows had been thrown open in hopes of cooling down the interior of the house. It wasn’t hot enough to warrant the cost of turning on the a/c, but it was hot enough that it was uncomfortable. Luckily, the open windows had let in a breeze that made it tolerable, maybe even pleasant, and for that Hinata was grateful. 

The first few objects he’d found while searching the house were boring, much to his dismay, but the mouse pressed on, certain that there would be something interesting lying around if he just kept looking. Around the time that Kageyama finally woke up, Hinata stumbled upon a small, sparkly purple plastic clamp shaped like a butterfly lying under the couch. He was intrigued, scurrying under the sofa to grab the object of interest and examine it. There didn’t seem to be a whole lot too it, but he nonetheless found it interesting, and he suspected it was something of Ellie’s. Though he’d never seen the little girl up close, he’d heard her around the house (hard not to), and he saw how fond Kageyama always looked when he talked about her. The cat always seemed especially grateful when Hinata bought something of Ellie’s that had been missing, so Hinata always found himself giving preferential treatment towards anything he found that he suspected might belong to the little girl. 

Clasping the purple object in his paws, Hinata found himself imagining how pleased Kageyama would be when he bought this, how the cat would smile at him and thank him, and the mouse’s tiny heart fluttered. He wasn’t entirely sure why he was so happy about pleasing the other boy, but he didn’t put that much thought into it. It’d been a very long time since he was happy, and he wasn’t about to go and second-guess the causes. 

Crawling out from under the couch, Hinata was thrilled to see the figure of a cat perched on the windowsill of the room. Perfect! He didn’t even have to bother with trying to find Kageyama, he was right here!

So excited he was about the prospect of showing off his new find that Hinata didn’t stop to look closely at the figure before him, didn’t stop to notice that the ears and tail of this individual were more gray than black, that the hair was much shorter, or that this person seemed a few centimeters shorter than he was used to. Indeed, it wasn’t until he was about five feet away, when the cat finally turned to face him, that Hinata noticed something was wrong. The eyes he was staring into were gold. Kageyama’s eyes were blue, sometimes gray in the right light, but never gold. Hinata froze. The purple clasp dropped from his hands. 

The golden-eyed cat jumped down off the windowsill, looming over Hinata and holy shit was huge! Logically, he knew that Kageyama was the same size as this guy, slightly larger in fact, but Kageyama didn’t seem this horribly gigantic, at least, not anymore. Hinata could feel himself shrinking away, shaking, his round ears pressing flat into his hair as if to hide themselves from sight. His tail was in his hands and he could see his nails digging in though he did not feel the pain. He couldn’t help it; it was a nervous reaction. When he was young he’d seen one of his colony mates die because a cat got hold of her tail when she tried to run, a cat that as he remembered it began to look more and more like the one in front of him until he began imagining himself in her place, with this gold-eyed feline grabbing hold of his tail and yanking him back, ripping him to pieces and oh god he was gonna throw up. His claws dug even harder into his tail and he felt tears pour down his cheeks. 

_Run, dammit! _His mind screamed at him. _Run! Do something! Why are you just standing there? Run! _But he couldn’t run. He was frozen to the spot, unable to do anything but stare up at the creature he was certain would be his death.____

_____ _

The gold-eyed cat took a step forward, and somehow that did it. The paralysis on his voice broke and Hinata _screamed _, an impossibly loud sound so terrible it seemed to startle the cat in front him, causing him to take a step back from the tiny source of the sudden noise. Two rooms away, that same sound jolted Kageyama into alertness.__

_____ _

__

_____ _

__At once, he had a sneaking suspicion that he knew what had happened, and he reprimanded himself harshly for his forgetfulness as he ran towards the living room, praying that he wasn’t about to be too late, and that he had properly judged the temperament of his frequent intruder. Sure, the guy wasn’t exactly a pacifist by any definition of the word, but he wasn’t a cold-blooded murderer either._ _

_______ _ _ _

_Then again _, a voice whispered, _not a lot of cats would consider killing a mouse to be murder _. Shit, right, but hopefully he would be hesitant enough about it that Kageyama could get there in time to intervene. He burst into the living room.____

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

Sure enough, his frequent intruder was there, standing on the floor next to an open window. 

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

_Guess that answers how the asshole got in _, Kageyama thought bemusedly.__

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Another half second glance around the room and he found Hinata, terrified out of his wits, but otherwise okay. Kageyama couldn’t quite stop the sigh of relief that escaped him, thankful that no one else seemed to notice. 

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

After his initial relief over seeing the mouse was okay, Kageyama quickly spotted something that he didn’t like about the situation, specifically the fact that the other cat was looming over Hinata with a menacing expression, and that Hinata looked about ready to drop from fright. He found himself guiltily flashing back to the first time he’d met the mouse.

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

A movement snapped him back to his senses. The other cat, who seemed to enthralled by Hinata to have noticed Kageyama yet, took a step towards the smaller boy, and that was enough to set Kageyama off. His back arched, tail poofed up and he hissed, the sound angry and threatening, startling the other cat away from Hinata, who whipped around towards the source of the noise. 

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Kageyama stalked forward, his teeth bared and his eyes narrowed, positioning himself so that his front two paws stood between Hinata and the intruder. Hinata still looked faint, though he seemed relieved to see Kageyama, a fact that would normally have made the cat’s heart do the conga if he weren’t so pissed off right now. 

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

The golden-eyed cat was the first to speak.

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Dude, is that a fucking _mouse?! _” He asked, still staring at Hinata in a way that further enraged Kageyama.__

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Tanaka, for the last time; get the fuck out of my house, and stay the fuck out of my house. I’ve told you this a hundred times, and you’ve ignored me, but not this time. Get. Out.” He hissed, glaring at Tanaka, who, annoyingly, didn’t seem swayed. 

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. You didn’t answer my question. That’s a mouse, isn’t it? Dude, why the fuck is there a mouse living with you?” Tanaka asked. 

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Kageyama hissed at him again. He wasn’t normally a fan of the other cat on a good day, but at least he could usually tolerate him, as Tanaka hadn’t ever done anything to truly warrant a violent response. Now though, now he’d gone too far. Technically he hadn’t actually done anything, but that particular fact was ignored by Kageyama, whose brain had gone into overdrive, screaming at him that this guy was a threat and needed to be dealt with, now. The feeling of Hinata’s tiny form pressing up to his left arm just further strengthened that emotion, that furious desire to protect, and to rip this asshole’s head off if he stepped. 

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

He and Tanaka had a… strained relationship. If it were up to Kageyama, there would be no relationship, because he would never choose to see him, but sadly, it was not up to him. Tanaka was technically a stray who lived in the area, but he may as well belong to the old woman in the house next door, because she always left food out for him and let him come inside whenever he wanted. Because of this, Tanaka had basically set up shop in the house next door, and still frequently wandered wherever he pleased in the area, regardless of whether he was welcome there or not. When Kageyama had first been adopted, Tanaka had showed up within two days to say hello. Kageyama made it pretty clear that he didn’t like the other cat, but that hadn’t stopped Tanaka from popping over to bother him whenever he felt like it. Normally, it was just annoying, but today, it was intolerable because now he posed an actual threat. 

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Tanaka made a noise of disbelief. 

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Dude, holy shit, is it hugging you?” He asked, leaning in to get a better look at Hinata, who had indeed wrapped himself around Kageyama’s arm to the best of his ability. This proved to be a bad idea, as the second his face got a little too close for comfort, and Kageyama felt Hinata begin shaking he swung his right paw at the other boy, claws drawn in an attempt to scratch him. Tanaka just barely managed to jump back out of the way. 

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Yo, what the hell, man? That was totally uncalled for!” Tanaka complained. 

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Leave,” Kageyama hissed. Tanaka just frowned.

********

____________******** _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

********

“Nuh-uh, man, no way. Not until I get some goddam answers.” He huffed, and sat down obstinately, glaring right back at Kageyama, who growled. Well, this was just great. Previous experience had taught him that when Tanaka was determined, nothing was going to stop him and as much as he didn’t want to explain himself to the other cat, he also knew that it was the fastest, least violent way to get him to fuck off. He had a feeling that he wouldn’t be doing Hinata a whole lot of good if he just attacked this guy; he’d probably frighten the small boy off for good, and he didn’t want that. 

********

____________******** _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

********

Kageyama groaned and relaxed his posture, his tail de-poofing and moving away from its upright position, though still flicking around in a way that clearly expressed his agitation. His ears remained flat against his head, and he slowly retracted his claws in a way that made it clear he wouldn’t hesitate to bring them back out if shit went south. He slowly lowered himself down, refusing to break eye contact with Tanaka the entire time, until he was laying on his stomach, his arms circled protectively around Hinata, who’d wrapped Kageyama’s right hand around himself and clung tightly to his index finger, out of sight from the other cat. Tanaka didn’t seem to pleased about this, but even he could read the room well enough to tell that if he tried to scoot forward for a better look at the mouse, he’d lose an eye. 

********

____________******** _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

********

“Fine, but only because I want you out of here,” Kageyama growled, still shooting his best death-glare at the other cat. 

********

____________******** _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

********

“Yeah okay great whatever. Let’s start from square one; is that a fucking _mouse?! _” Tanaka asked. Kageyama sighed. This was going to be exhausting.__

********

____________******** _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

********

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this is so late, I have no excuse other than that I'm the worst. Normally, when an author posts something super late it's incredible, and you're like, "oh, okay, that's why it was late; it's fucking amazing, alright, this makes sense!" Sadly, this is not one of those cases, and I'm sorry.  
> As always, I'm a massive slut for reviews (and in general, but that's a different story), and if reviews happen, I will think about it literally all week, and who knows, maybe it'll even motivate me to get my bitch ass in gear and write faster. I promise I'm not trying to guilt you guys or review-bait with that, it's just that I do read comments when I'm looking for motivation. It's just nice to know that somebody appreciates what I'm doing, even just a little, you know?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a fuck lot of homework, so naturally this happened instead, because apparently the only way for me to be productive with writing is if I have something else I need to be doing, because my brain fucking hates me. 
> 
> Also, now might be a good time to mention that I never actually... watched Haikyuu, at least, not all of it, and what I did watch, I watched like, five years ago. So if everyone, especially Tanaka, is very out of character (which is likely), then I apologize, but I really don't have any fucking idea what I'm doing. I just wanna write gay shit about anthropomorphic anime boys with a colossal size difference that can play into my constant power fantasies, so don't expect a whole lot from me here.

Kageyama jerked his head at Tanaka, gesturing angrily for him to sit down. This conversation might be somewhat less shitty if he didn’t have to keep craning his neck up to look at the jackass. He didn’t seem to get the message. Kageyama gritted his teeth and jerked his head again, still to no avail. Tanaka just stared at him with that antsy look on his face.  
  
“Well? Dude come on are you gonna tell me anything or not?” Tanaka prompted.  
  
“Sit the fuck down first! I’m not gonna talk to you if I have to keep looking up, it makes my neck hurt.” Kageyama hissed.  
  
“Alright, alright, yeesh dude.” Tanaka replied, rolling his eyes.  
  
Kageyama’s scowl deepened. It was taking an immense amount of mental effort to restrain himself from attacking this guy, which was odd. Normally, while he was certainly no fan of the other cat, his emotions were limited to annoyance and a vague urge to swat at him, but never before had he felt the desire for violence that he felt now. He supposed this was what it was to care, to actually worry about protecting someone other than himself, because underneath all that violence was a rushing current of fear.  
  
Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t stop his brain from visualizing what could have happened if he had been too slow, or if Tanaka had been faster, or if Hinata hadn’t screamed, or if, or if, or if, on and on into infinity. He kept seeing himself running into the room, only to find Hinata on the ground, ripped to shreds by the claws of a threat Kageyama was too stupid to warn him about, brown eyes wide with terror yet devoid of life, orange hair red with blood, gone.  
  
Logically, he knew Tanaka wasn’t particularly mean-spirited or sadistic the way a number of other stray cats were, and likely wouldn’t have actually killed Hinata, but logic wasn’t enough to quiet the shrieking of his mind, his own despaired wailing over a situation that hadn’t happened but could’ve. It could’ve happened, and that was all he seemed able to focus on.  
  
The distressing swell of emotions was urging him to try and take control of the situation in the only way he knew how, to attack the other cat for the sin he hadn’t actually committed but could’ve committed, to make him pay for inciting the alien terror that swarmed Kageyama’s mind. He was stopped from acting upon this impulse by the tiny body in his right hand, by the feeling of a rapid heartbeat and soft breathing and small paws wrapped around his index finger, comforting and warm and alive. Hinata was alive, intact and unharmed, and he was right here, safe. Almost as if sensing his distress, the mouse gently nuzzled his face against Kageyama’s palm, sighing gently and relaxing further into the cat’s hand. Kageyama felt himself begin to calm.  
  
“Um, helloooo? Earth to pissy-cat? What happened to explaining?” Tanaka’s voice ripped through Kageyama’s mind and he felt himself beginning to get wound up all over again and did his best to suppress it.  
  
“What do you even want me to explain?” Kageyama hissed, agitated. He really, really wanted the other cat out of here, not just for his own sake but for Hinata’s as well.  
  
“Oh, I don’t know, how about explaining why the fuck you’ve got a mouse living with you? Is it like, your pet or something?” Tanaka asked, and Kageyama scowled.  
  
“His name is Hinata, he lives here, and no, he’s not my pet, he’s my friend.” He said.  
  
“You named the mouse Hinata?” Tanaka asked, looking at Kageyama as though he were amusing and pitiful. “Dude, I don’t mean to judge or anything, but catching a mouse, naming it, and having it be your friend is pretty friggin sad.”  
  
“I didn’t name him Hinata, his name is Hinata, same way your name is Tanaka. Both of you came with names. At no point did I name anybody here, which is real lucky for you because had I been in charge of your naming process then you’d be Dipshit McGee or something equally indicative of your personality. Also, I don’t see any way in which having a friend is ‘sad’, if anything, I’d consider not having friends to be the sad thing, but I guess you wouldn’t be able to think of it that way because that’d force you to rethink your own life.” Kageyama growled. This dude was seriously pissing him off. Hinata was right here, did he think he couldn’t hear him? Although, actually, that was probably exactly what he thought. It wasn’t really common knowledge that mice were actually just as sentient as cats, which would likely explain Tanaka’s behavior, but Kageyama chose conveniently ignore that explanation in favor of just further labeling the other cat a huge asshole.  
  
“Okay, first of all, fuck you, I do have friends, and second of all, what do you mean it “came with that name?” Did someone else name it before you? Did it have some kind of collar or something? How the hell would you know its name?” Tanaka questioned, prompting an eye roll.  
  
“He told me, dumbass.” Kageyama replied, watching the other cat’s face twist in confusion.  
  
“Wait, what? Like, it talked?” Tanaka asked, clearly not convinced.  
  
“Yes, just like how you’re talking to me right now, but considerably less annoying.” Kageyama said.  
  
“Bull shit, mice can’t talk, that’d be fucked up. I think you’re just losing it, dude.” Tanaka said.  
  
Before Kageyama could retort, a small voice piped up from his hands.  
  
“Not bull shit.” Kageyama looked down. Hinata had poked his head up from behind the cat’s paws to look directly at Tanaka, a defiant (and frankly adorable) pout on his face. The way he clutched at his tail betrayed his nervousness, but it wasn’t visible to the other cat, who likely wouldn’t even have been able to recognize the nervous tic for what it was in the first place.  
  
Tanaka looked as though he’d been hit in the face with a frying pan. The completely dumbfounded expression likely would’ve made Kageyama laugh in any other circumstance, and even now it was still pretty amusing. The other cat stared at Hinata in shock, and perhaps a little bit of horror, his mouth gaping open in an almost perfect ‘o’.  
  
“Wha- uh, did, did the mouse just…” Tanaka choked out, seemingly unable to formulate a complete sentence. Kageyama wasn’t entirely sure why this was such a big deal; sure, he’d been somewhat surprised at first, but it wasn’t exactly earth shattering or anything. Like, if a spider or something could talk, that’d be weird, that he might freak out about, but a mouse didn’t seem that unbelievable.  
  
“Yes I did. And I have a name, it’s Hinata.” Hinata chirped again, sounding much more sure of himself this time, even puffing out his chest a little in a way that made Kageyama smile. He was happy to see Hinata act so confidently, especially around someone who, understandably, scared the bejesus out of him. It seemed to indicate that the mouse was becoming a lot more comfortable with the world around him, rather than cowering in fear at every loud noise or sudden movement like he had for the first few weeks Kageyama had known him.  
  
“Oh my god. Oh that is- ohhh shit.” Tanaka groaned, the look on his face transformed completely into horror. He’d gone pale, and looked almost as though he was about to be sick. Kageyama furrowed his brow.  
  
“What the fuck is your problem all of a sudden?” He asked. Tanaka just stared at him, then back down at Hinata, his face grey.  
  
“I- I have friends who- I mean it’s not like they know! Of course none of them know, I didn’t know! Okay? We didn’t… we didn’t think that… oh my god that is so fucked up.” He mumbled, and Kageyama’s stomach dropped. He had a feeling he knew where this was going. He’d been an alley cat himself, and while he never spent time around other strays he still knew some of the things that passed for entertainment among them. Bored cats tended to turn to violence with nothing else to do, and when they weren’t attacking each other… he suddenly felt as sick as Tanaka looked.  
  
He’d known the game was a thing; even though he’d never participated, he still heard others talk about it. The game, uncreatively referred to as “Cat and Mouse”, occured whenever a particularly bored group of cats came across an unlucky mouse, and decided to take out their pent up aggression on something that couldn’t fight back, because unlike another alley cat, who could easily return fire and potentially even kill an aggressor, mice were too small to properly defend themselves against the much larger predators that targeted them.  
  
The especially sick thing about it was that survival wasn’t a part of it; the cats rarely, if ever, actually ate the mice they killed, they only… killed them. And they didn’t just kill them either, oh no, that’s where the game part came in; the goal was to see how long you could keep the mouse alive. Now, the cats did tend to be somewhat impatient (they were doing this for entertainment after all), and would thus refrain from using methods such as starvation or anything similar that would take days or even weeks to pay off, but they did still tend to make the deaths last several minutes. Kageyama had even once overheard a fellow stray boast to her friend that she’d managed to make one last two hours before the unfortunate mouse finally bled out. At the time he hadn’t thought twice about it, barely even processing the information as anything other than yet another obnoxious asshole bragging to a fellow obnoxious asshole about pointless bullshit. Now though… He felt his grip subconsciously tighten around Hinata, who looked confused as to why the two cats seemed so disturbed all of a sudden.  
  
Tanaka was, unsurprisingly, the first to break the silence.  
  
“Listen, little dude, uh… Hinata, was it? I’m uh, super sorry about freaking you out earlier. I didn’t… well, okay, I can’t exactly say that I didn’t mean to, but I also didn’t know you were like… sentient, I guess? I apologize for that too, and for the whole, like, calling you an ‘it’ thing afterwards, and uh… you know I guess I’m just like, generally sorry.” He said. Hinata seemed to consider what he said, staring at him for a moment or two, before shrugging.  
  
“It’s fine. Well, no it really isn’t, but I forgive you, and hey, now you know! Just don’t… do that again, please.” He said, and Tanaka’s face broke out into a relieved grin.  
  
“Yeah no, don’t worry. There’s uh, there’s a lot of shit I’m going to be reconsidering.” That dark look flashed back across his face, but only for a brief second. “So… are we, like, are we cool?” He asked.  
  
“Yeah, we’re cool.” Hinata chirped, smiling. He seemed happy with Tanaka’s adjustment in behavior, and frankly so was Kageyama, though he didn’t show it. Much as he couldn’t believe it, he was actually almost proud of the other cat’s ability to adapt so quickly to the change in his perception of the situation. The fact that he was not only willing to apologize, but to ask forgiveness from a mouse indicated a level of maturity that Kageyama hadn’t thought present.  
  
Tanaka began extending a paw over towards Hinata, presumably for a high five or something, but froze at Kageyama’s warning growl. Unexpected maturity or not, he still didn’t trust this guy to make physical contact with the mouse. Even without malicious intent, Tanaka’s only experience with mice was likely of a violent nature, so there was no way he’d understand the level of force that was acceptable here. He was just so, so big, and Hinata was so tiny and fragile, and it was just too dangerous!  
  
‘You know, you’re actually even bigger than Tanaka, and you seemed to figure out how not to crush a mouse with no problem’, the logical part of his brain chided, but Kageyama chose to ignore it. That was different. Of course he himself could be trusted, of course he’d never hurt Hinata, but everyone else was suspect and he did not trust them with something as important as his mouse’s safety. One wrong move; one accidental slip of a claw or squeeze of a hand or any number of things and Hinata could die. As he consciously processed this information for the first time, like, really thought about it, Kageyama found himself baffled as to why the hell Hinata was so comfortable with him. Obviously he wasn’t complaining but good god. A tiny voice snapped him out of it.  
  
“Hey, Kageyama, it’s okay. I’ll hive five him if he wants a high five, it’s fine.” Hinata said, looking up at him reassuringly. He was somewhat misinterpreting the situation in thinking that Kageyama’s only concern was that he wasn’t comfortable, and that he had no problem whatsoever with the actual concept of this other cat touching his mouse, but he was ernest enough that Kageyama caved. He had developed a weakness for those big brown eyes, and besides, who was he to stop Hinata from doing what he wanted to do? The fact that he was actually willing to touch the other cat, even just the brief tap of a high five, indicated confidence that Kageyama would normally have been very proud of, and should be encouraging. Wrestling back the the screaming instincts that told him to clutch Hinata against his chest and bite anyone who got near, Kageyama gave a stiff nod at Tanaka, who beamed, seemingly oblivious to the housecat’s discontentment.  
  
Tanaka bought his paw over and stopped, hovering right near Hinata so that the mouse could do the actual high fiving, which he did quite enthusiastically, hopping up and slapping both of his tiny paws against Tanaka’s much larger one. Kageyama begrudgingly gave the other cat a few points for being smart enough to not actually use any force of his own, but he was still on the shit-list for a variety of other things, including but not limited to: breaking into Kageyama’s house, scaring Hinata, scaring Kageyama, being annoying, breathing, and more.  
  
“Well, this has been great-”  
  
“Disagree.” Kageyama interrupted, earning a look from the other cat.  
  
“Rude, but I’ve gotta go. I’m gonna see if I can find some of my buddies and uh, explain a few things.” Tanaka said, that grim look returning as he hopped back up onto the windowsill. “See you later!” He shouted, jumping back out of the house.  
  
“No you won’t.” Kageyama called after him. With the intrusion gone, Kageyama’s mind resumed its earlier thoughts, specifically the ones regarding why in the hell Hinata was so content with cozying up to, well, a cat.  
  
“Kageyama!” Hinata called, getting the cat’s attention. When he looked back down, Hinata was holding his arms in the air and making little grabby motions with his hands, the universal signal for “up”. Kageyama complied, scooping the tiny mouse into his hand and lifting him up face height.  
  
‘I could kill him right now. I mean obviously I’d never do that, but I could very easily kill him right now holy shit’ Kageyama’s incredibly unhelpful thoughts chided. He really, really didn’t want to think about that, but something about remembering that terrible game had sent his brain into overdrive, slapping him in the face with the reality of the fact that at his core, he was a killer. He was a killer, and yet this sweet, kind-hearted little mouse had befriended him, and even slept right next to him. Of course Kageyama would never hurt him, but Hinata had no actual way of knowing that! His absolute faith in his natural predator was astounding, once Kageyama actually considered it.  
  
Hinata made a beckoning motion with his hands, and Kageyama obligingly leaned in until his face was right in front of the mouse. Again, his brain screamed at both him and Hinata about the incredibly stupidity of Hinata was actually doing, but his thoughts were soon cut short as Hinata moved, leaning forward on his toes to quickly kiss the tip of the cat’s nose. Kageyama’s brain froze.  
  
“Thank you.” Hinata said, his cheeks dusted slightly pink, and Kageyama barely even heard it because his mind had gone to static. Before he could stop himself, he leaned forward and gently kissed the top of Hinata’s head. The mouse’s wild orange hair was soft, and Kageyama could feel the boy’s round ears twitching against his face. When he pulled away Hinata’s blush had gone from a faint pink to a full-blown scarlet, and Kageyama felt fairly certain he was doing no better.  
  
A silence ensued in which both of them stared at each other, scared that if they made the wrong move they may frighten the other off for good, as well as trying to process what had just happened and the possible implications it held. Kageyama was the first to break it.  
  
“So, uh, do you wanna maybe just, head back to bed? I mean, you’ve had kind of a rough go of it, like, it’s been pretty stressful I’d imagine, so…” He trailed off.  
  
“Yeah, I… yeah, good idea. Let’s get out of here.” Hinata responded, still a little dazed.  
  
Rather than set the mouse down as he would normally, Kageyama carried Hinata back to their shared nest, quietly relieved at the fact that the tiny boy didn’t seem to find anything strange about his decision. Even as they arrived at the secluded pile of blankets, he kept a hold of Hinata, only setting him down once he’d curled up and made himself comfortable on the pile.  
  
Kageyama placed the mouse on the blankets next to him, where Hinata laid on his stomach and tucked himself into a compact form, folding his limbs under himself and wrapping his long pink tail around to hug it against his chest like a teddy bear. Instead of pulling away, Kageyama’s paw lingered, hovering over the mouse’s tiny form. Did he dare push it? Hinata had been through a lot in a short period of time, and he’d already tested his luck in kissing the little redhead; any more advances and he could very well scare the mouse off for good. But… he hadn’t seemed upset by the kiss, so… maybe?  
  
‘Screw it’, Kageyama decided, ‘I’m going for it.’  
  
Gently, he lowered his paw back down, and with one finger began lightly rubbing the mouse’s back. Hinata started for a second, clearly not expecting the contact, but rather than freaking out or running off like Kageyama feared he might, he hummed softly and moved into the touch.  
  
Encouraged, Kageyama continued, slowly moving up to pet the mouse’s hair, right in between his little round ears. Hinata’s orange hair was surprisingly fluffy, his soft ears twitching as Kageyama brushed up against them. He kept going, stopping to gently rub at the back of Hinata’s ears before returning to his back and lightly tracing designs on the area in between the mouse’s shoulder blades. Hinata had gone boneless at this point, practically melting into the cat’s touch, and had begun making a strange noise, almost like a bird’s chirp. Had it not been for the mouse’s clearly relaxed state, Kageyama would’ve been worried, but after a moment or two he realized what it was; Hinata was purring. Well, not technically ‘purring’ in the way that a cat did, but a similar concept.  
  
The idea that he’d managed to make the naturally jumpy mouse so content bought Kageyama a pleased sort of pride, and he soon found himself purring right back, still tracing patterns on a now half-asleep Hinata’s back. Leaning in, he once again placed a soft kiss on the mouse’s head, happily humming at the little smile Hinata gave back.  
  
Right then in that nest, the outside world didn’t exist. The horrible realities of the alley cat’s game and nature of a predator and prey were absent within the comfortable cocoon the two of them had created. Hinata was quickly lulled to sleep by the comforting ministrations of the cat next to him, and Kageyama himself followed soon after, slipping into unconsciousness with his hand still resting on top of Hinata’s tiny body, subconsciously pulling him closer as the two of them slept through the rest of the afternoon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys... I think... I think I'm gonna hurt the boy. I really wanna hurt the boy. I'm a sadist at heart and this situation just opens up a whole lot of doors for me to play around with, and I'm not sure I can resist that temptation. 
> 
> As usual I'm sorry it's so late, please feel free to leave comments since I need to feel validated. If you like it, please for the love of god let me know. If you don't like it, believe me I don't fuckin blame ya.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey look this still exists. Isn't that unfortunate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It can be dangerous to be _too _polite...__

For probably about the first time in his life, Hinata wasn’t afraid. Even when he’d been with his colony, which undeniably had provided a sense of safety, he was still afraid, deep down, of the giant monsters with knives hidden in their paws who waited to tear him apart.  
  
He’d been afraid of Kageyama, at first. Oh god had he been afraid. Even after their initial meeting, when he’d managed to get himself stuck in some sort of trap and gotten rescued by the guy he had been certain was going to kill him, he still harbored fear. He’d watched Kageyama from around corners, approached him to talk with tension in his body, ready to bolt the moment it seemed necessary. Even after he’d known Kageyama for days he’d still slept pressed up against the far back wall of the hidey-hole he’d made in the front room, so that he’d be unreachable should the cat suddenly decide to drop the act and rip him to pieces.  
  
When Hinata had found the shiny band lying on the floor of one of the carpeted rooms upstairs, he’d been delighted. Ever since he was little, he’d had a love for shiny objects, and a knack for picking them up whenever he found them to take back to his nest. Even though his colony had moved around frequently, each member of the colony possessed a few personal objects that they carried around every time they moved from place to place, materials used to build their own personal nests within their burrows. Hinata had loved adding scraps of bright color and sparkly knicknacks to his, he’d always taken a particular pride in it, even when some of the other members of his colony had teased him about being a magpie in the body of a mouse.  
  
When his colony had left, and he’d been forced to move on, he hadn’t been able to take any of his materials with him, and even though they were only objects, the loss had been terrible. He’d felt like he’d lost a part of himself, a part of his home, so the discovery of his first shiny object in his new home was a monumental occasion, a symbol of him actually being able to rebuild.  
  
The band was rather large compared to a lot of the objects he usually collected, but that just made it all the more great of a find. He had to show Kageyama. He’d always taken pride in the knicknacks he collected, taking care to show them off to every member of his colony before adding them to his nest, and he figured Kageyama, though an intimidating cat, was about the closest thing to a colony member that he had anymore.  
  
He’d gone scampering off downstairs to where Kageyama usually resided, the humans of the household luckily having retreated from the area, holding the glittering band behind his back in the hopes of making the reveal more dramatic. Kageyama had looked happy to see him, or at least, not displeased, and Hinata had been excited enough about his find that he’d found himself smiling, even going so far as to playfully taunt the cat the way he would’ve taunted his old colony mates.  
  
In fact, he’d been so excited, both by his find and by the prospect of showing it off, that he’d been caught completely off guard by the look in Kageyama’s eyes at the sight of his prize. Hinata had recognized fury there, similar to things he’d seen in his colony mates when he’d done something he shouldn’t have. It’d been scary enough then, but in that moment, seeing that rage reflected in the much larger face of the cat before him, Hinata had felt an almost sickening sense of terror. He hadn’t been that afraid even when he’d first met Kageyama- at least then the cat had managed to keep his face relatively neutral.  
  
Kageyama had growled questions at him, and as Hinata had forced the answers out past the growing lump in his throat he could’ve sworn he saw his own reflection in the cat’s giant, sharp teeth. Logically he’d known that was impossible, as teeth weren’t reflective, but terror and logic were two thought processes that did not tend to cooperate.  
  
When Kageyama had reached his paw over, Hinata’s limbs finally gave out, causing him to crash backwards onto the floor. The pain in his backside had been nothing compared to the phantom pain he’d been imagining all over his body at the sight of the gigantic hand reaching toward him.  
  
Hinata had shrieked, desperately crying out an apology and begging for the cat to spare him. He’d done this in spite of the fact that he knew it never worked. There was no bargaining with cats. Once they’d decided to end your life, there was nothing that would stop them from accomplishing that goal. He’d watched many members of his colony, as well as other unfortunate mice, try pleading with the cats that had caught them, and each time its only effect appeared to have been entertaining the cats for a few seconds longer before being brutally silenced. Nevertheless, he’d found himself begging anyway, unable to halt the instinct, no matter how useless it may have been.  
  
But again, Kageyama had surprised him. Instead of teeth or claws, Hinata had received an explanation, an apology, and further reassurance of the frankly bizarre fact that Kageyama had no intention of hurting him. Hinata had still apologized profusely for his mistake, and when Kageyama had responded by making him promise not to take anything else, Hinata had quickly agreed.  
  
The two days that followed that incident had been miserable. Hinata was no stranger to hunger, but he hadn’t really eaten much before making his promise, so by the time two days had rolled around he’d gone almost 60 hours without eating anything, and it had taken a toll. Mice needed to eat a lot, and indeed he’d found himself on the brink of taking food multiple times within those two days, desperate to make the gnawing pain in his stomach go away. Every time he’d gotten close though, he’d seen Kageyama’s paw looming over him, claws seeming to shine in the light, ready to tear him apart, and he’d stopped himself. The pain in his stomach may have been terrible, but he’d known it was likely nowhere near as bad as the pain he would’ve felt if Kageyama had caught him going back on his promise.  
  
Eventually, however, the ache had grown bad enough that Hinata had felt as though he’d been eating himself alive from the inside, and he’d needed a distraction. Slowly, shakily, he’d stumbled his way towards the spot where he knew Kageyama slept, mentally reflecting on the irony of seeking comfort from the cat when it was fear of said cat that was causing the issue in the first place. The lack of energy had caused his limbs to feel heavy and ungainly, and he had been dizzy beyond belief, able to both feel and hear the blood rushing around in his skull, having to take several moments along to way to stop and lean heavily against the walls for support lest his legs finally give out from under him. All of these factors combined had made him extremely uncoordinated, so it hadn’t come as much of a surprise to him when he’d been unable to drag his leg up as high as it had needed to be to get over a corner of a blanket on the floor, and had instead just tripped and landed on his face.  
  
Kageyama had been there, so Hinata had forced himself to get back up instead of just continuing to lay on the floor like he’d wanted to. Frankly, the fact that he’d been able to both get back up and stay back up had been a miracle, as the head rush that came with the movement had nearly taken him back down, his vision cutting briefly to static. As he’d tried to blink back his sight he’d apologized to Kageyama for his fumble, and it hadn’t been long before he’d heard the cat ask whether or not he was okay.  
  
Hinata had frozen up, clutching his tail close to his chest, unsure of how to answer the question. His impulsive brain had screamed at him that it was some form of trap, and when Kageyama had suddenly leaned in so that his face was right up on him Hinata’s breath had hitched, frightened. Kageyama’s eyes were very pretty, and he hadn’t been able to stop himself from making that particular observation, but he also hadn’t lingered too long on it because, you know, fearing for his life.  
  
The next several seconds had been very confusing. Kageyama had seemed baffled by Hinata’s actions, exclaiming, horrified, that he’d never intended for Hinata to interpret his words as a threat against feeding himself, and, after briefly chastising the mouse for his lack of foresight, had actually gone and gotten his food for Hinata to eat. Needless to say, Hinata had been dumbfounded. How was it that this guy kept going from seeming terrifying and hostile to seeming caring and benevolent in the span of only a few seconds? Frankly, it was mystifying.  
  
After a moment or so of convincing himself that it wasn’t some sort of trap, Hinata had quite literally dove in to the food, silently thankful for the fact that Kageyama’s bowl didn’t have very high walls. He’d eaten until he physically couldn’t eat anymore, then pulled himself up out the bowl and rolled down onto the floor, groaning dramatically. He’d been happy, happy enough that he’d allowed Kageyama to actually pick him up without freaking out, instead curious as to where this was going. He’d been confused when the cat had set him down on the blankets, and quietly delighted at Kageyama’s somewhat awkward invitation, unable to stop himself from pulling Kageyama’s giant paw down on top of him like a blanket. He hadn’t been sure then how he’d ever found that paw to be scary, as in that moment it had felt so safe and comforting that he’d fallen asleep in record time.  
  
After that, Hinata wasn’t afraid anymore. Any fear he’d felt towards Kageyama had melted away and transformed into a warmer, much more bubbly feeling that he couldn’t quite place but was fond of all the same. And his experience with that other cat- Tanaka, he was pretty sure he’d heard Kageyama say- had just further served to reduce his overall fear levels. Sure, it’d been absolutely terrifying at first, but the combination of Kageyama leaping to his defense and Tanaka sincerely apologizing had left Hinata feeling a lot more comfortable with the idea of cats as a whole. Hell, he’d even gone ahead and given Tanaka a high five!  
  
Of course, the events that had followed had served to even further strengthen his trust. Hinata had felt compelled to express his gratitude to Kageyama, as well as do something about the exploding fluttery feeling in his chest, so he’d planted a kiss to the very tip of Kageyama’s nose in a display of affection he’d seen his colony mates participate in before. Now, they normally didn’t kiss each other necessarily on the nose, but he was working with a pretty significant size difference here, so he sort of had to make do.  
  
He hadn’t been expecting the sudden press of Kageyama’s lips to the top of his head, but he had found that he quite liked the sensation. It was odd, certainly, but it was also gentle and affectionate, and Hinata found himself severely disappointed when Kageyama pulled away after only a second.  
  
Hinata had accepted Kageyama’s invitation to return to their nest, ( _their _nest!!!), agreeing that he could indeed use some rest. Kageyama’s finger tracing gentle patterns in between his shoulder blades had felt absolutely fantastic, and Hinata had wound up chirping out his contentment in a matter of seconds, practically melting into the comforting touch. The low rumbling noise Kageyama had made in response had been strong enough for Hinata to feel it in his bones, further serving to soothe the mouse into a state of blissed out unconsciousness.__  
  
Much to Hinata’s delight, displays of affection quickly became the norm for the two of them. Kageyama suddenly insisted on carrying him around a lot more often, so Hinata frequently ended up either curled up on the cat’s paw or snuggled into the sleek black hair atop his head, wrapping the strands around his small body as if trying to make himself a nest. Kageyama had complained a few times about Hinata “fucking up his hair”, but the protests were surface level at best, as he had been caught, more than once, purring while Hinata played with his hair, further encouraging the mouse to do so.  
  
Sort of parallel to that, Hinata found himself chirping with a remarkable frequency- practically just any time Kageyama touched him, which was a lot. He couldn’t help it- he chirped when he felt safe and happy; Kageyama’s presence made him feel safe, his touch made him feel happy. The chirping was just a natural reaction to those feelings, a way of expressing them to others, and Kageyama certainly seemed to like it, so he wasn’t complaining.  
  
The only time he ever really felt self conscious about it was during another one of Tanaka’s surprise visits, (which, Kageyama had growled, seemed to be happening a whole lot more frequently as of late), when Hinata had begun chirping in response to Kageyama lightly petting one finger through the mess of orange curls on his head. Tanaka, (who had just slunk in from the cat door that the family had installed on the backdoor only a few days before), had reacted with surprise, loudly exclaiming, “Yo, what is that? Is he the one making that noise? Holy shit man I didn’t even know mice could do that!”, before being rather unceremoniously chased out by a suddenly very aggressive Kageyama. Embarrassed, Hinata had silenced himself, even after Tanaka was long gone, and it had taken Kageyama several minutes of petting and massaging to get him to start back up again.  
  
As the weeks went by, Hinata became increasingly convinced that he’d made a misjudgement. Sure, he’d had terrible experiences with cats in the past, but now that he thought about it, most of those experiences had involved the same two or three cats, and he had actually seen other cats back then too who hadn’t gone out of their way to torment him and his colony. The more thought he put into it, the more he began to believe that it was perhaps those cruel cats who were the outliers, the exceptions to the general rule, and that cats were, overall, not as violent as he had been lead to believe. Sure, they were still intimidating, and sure, some of them were definitely bloodthirsty and terrible, but laying there cuddled up to Kageyama- who fed him, and talked with him, and lavished him with affection, all without ever demanding anything in return- Hinata found that he was having a seriously hard time continuing to think of cats as monsters.  
  
It was a sunny morning in August when Kageyama announced that he’d be leaving, and the surge of panic those words sent through Hinata must have been visible on his face, because the cat quickly scooped him up and started explaining.  
  
“It’s not for very long, I promise,” Kageyama reassured, gently rubbing a finger against Hinata’s back in an attempt to soothe him. “It’s really only just for today- I’ll be back tomorrow!”  
  
“Really?” Hinata asked, relieved. Call him pathetic, but he didn’t think he could handle the pain of being abandoned again.  
  
“Yes really. Trust me; if it were up to me, I wouldn’t be going in the first place, but the family is going to go visit someone called a ‘grandma’, and Ellie insists they bring me,” Kageyama huffed. “I’d love to bring you along too, I don’t wanna just leave you here, but…” he trailed off, and Hinata understood. The cat’s concern for him bought that fluttery feeling back and he smiled, grabbing hold of Kageyama’s thumb and nuzzling into it.  
  
“I know. Don’t worry; I’ll be fine!” Hinata chirped. Kageyama seemed to relax at that before cocking one eyebrow and smirking at him, playfully.  
  
“Will you?” He asked, taunting.  
  
“Of course I will!” Hinata boasted, puffing out his chest- though still cuddled up against the cat’s thumb. “I can handle myself just fine, you know!”  
  
“Oh can you now?” Kageyama teased, leaning in close. He gently moved his thumb away and Hinata let him, letting go and leaning back slightly so that he was more stretched out.  
  
“What, you don’t believe me? You’re so mean!” Hinata protested, though he was smiling enough that it was obvious he wasn’t actually offended.  
  
“Sorry, sorry,” Kageyama replied, grinning. “I’m sure you’re perfectly capable of fending for yourself, short-stack.” Hinata gasped in mock outrage.  
  
“Short-stack?! Hey, just because I’m not a freaking giant doesn’t mean I’m useless, Bakageyama!” Hinata argued, punctuating the affectionate insult/nickname by lightly poking the cat in the nose.  
  
Kageyama huffed out a laugh at that before swooping in and planting a kiss to Hinata’s belly. The mouse erupted into giggles at the sensation, and he could feel that the cat’s lips were twisted into a smile from where they were pressed against his stomach. Sure enough, when Kageyama pulled away a few seconds later, he was smiling affectionately, dark eyes looking at Hinata in a way that made the little mouse begin chirping. Kageyama looked deeply pleased at the sound, briefly purring back before his face grew more serious.  
  
“I do have to leave now though,” he said quietly. Hinata went silent. “I was actually supposed to leave a minute or so ago I think, but I didn’t wanna go without at least letting you know what was happening. Ellie’s probably looking for me right now, and once she finds me we’re gonna head out, but I wanted to say goodbye.”  
  
“I appreciate that,” Hinata replied. It was the truth. If Kageyama had just disappeared without warning, he likely would’ve flipped out. Instead, he leaned in and kissed Kageyama’s cheek. “Have fun!”  
  
“Ugh, doubtful,” Kageyama said, rolling his eyes. His expression grew somewhat more somber as he looked back at Hinata, gently kissing the top of his head, right between his ears, as he’d done the first time the two of them had ever kissed. “I’ll be back soon. Stay safe.”  
  
With that, Kageyama set him down, giving him one last affectionate nudge before exiting the room. After a moment of two Hinata heard Ellie’s triumphant shout of “There you are!!!”, followed not long after by the sound of the family’s car pulling away from the driveway, and then nothing. The house was silent. He was alone.  
  
Hinata forced a shaky exhale, clutching his tail against his chest and trying to fight off the panic that was beginning to fill his chest. It was quiet. So, so, unsettlingly quiet. At one point he thought he heard some sort of swishing sound from somewhere, but it didn’t repeat itself at all, so he he was pretty sure he’d just imagined it.  
  
Despite his best efforts, anxiety was setting in, and he chastised himself for it. He promised Kageyama he’d be fine! He could do this! He wasn’t a pup anymore! But even as he thought all of these things, he still found himself beginning to shiver. Had the house always been this huge? Because it suddenly felt, like, oppressively huge. The fact that he was standing in the living room, which was a fairly open space to begin with, certainly wasn’t helping with that.  
  
More than the space though, what bothered him was the sound. Or, more specifically, the complete lack thereof. From Ellie singing, to the parents talking, to the television blaring, to music playing, and about a hundred other things- the house was usually a pretty loud place, full of life and movement. And even when the family was out, he had Kageyama, who filled the air in his own way; from his smooth voice, to his quiet laughter, to the soft sound of his tail swishing across the floor, to the deep purring that lulled Hinata to sleep almost every night- fuck. Hinata’s stomach twisted uncomfortably as he thought about Kageyama, his ears drooping sadly. He missed him already.  
  
He was so busy fretting over how quickly the loneliness had begun to kick in that Hinata completely failed to pay attention to his surroundings. So when a voice suddenly shattered the silence around him, he let out a startled yelp, practically leaping out of his skin.  
  
“Well, ho-ly shit, would ya look at that?” The voice exclaimed. “Looks like that asshole Tanaka wasn’t kidding!”  
  
Hinata whirled around, stumbling back a little, and found himself staring at two unknown felines, one with yellow eyes and one with green, both grinning down at him with an obvious fascination. At the sight of his frightened face, the yellow eyed one spoke again.  
  
“Aww, sorry mousey. Didn’t mean to scare ya,” she crooned. Hinata forced himself to calm down. Sure, he didn’t have any idea who these two were or why they were here, but he’d had the same issue with Tanaka, and that had turned out just fine! Besides, this one had apologized for scaring him right off the bat! He smiled, somewhat shakily.  
  
“Oh, it’s okay,” he replied. “I just didn’t hear you come up.”  
  
Both cats’ eyes widened and they glanced quickly at each other before staring back at him with even more intensity.  
  
“Oh, my, god!” The green eyed one exclaimed. Hinata couldn’t stop himself from flinching at the volume of her voice. Noticing his reaction, the yellow eyed one swatted her.  
  
“Mitsy! Not so loud! Can't ya see you’re frightening the poor thing?” Yellow eyes chastised. Green eyes, or, Mitsy, he guessed, clapped a paw up over her mouth.  
  
“Oops! Sorry!” She whispered. Hinata smiled at her. He knew he had just been overreacting- these two seemed plenty nice!  
  
“It’s fine!” he reassured. Mitsy removed her paw from her mouth, smiling widely at him, and he did his best to ignore the fear that gripped him at the sight of her teeth.  
  
“I was just super, like, excited, you know? I mean, you’re, like, _soooo _adorable!!” She squealed. The entire time she talked, the other cat, yellow eyes, kept staring fixedly at Hinata, her gray tail swishing slowly back and forth across the floor. She was also smiling, but without baring her teeth. He couldn’t place the look in her eyes.__  
  
“I hafta admit, when that Tanaka guy started spewin' all that junk 'bout how there was some house-dweller ‘round here keepin’ a mouse as a pet of his own, I thought he was fulla shit, but I’ll be damned,” yellow eyes drawled. Before Hinata could object to being designated as Kageyama’s “pet”, she continued. “So where is that kitty-cat of yours?”  
  
“Kageyama? He, uh, he had to leave for a little while. His family was going on a trip and wanted to take him with, but he’ll be back tomorrow,” Hinata replied. Yellow eyes’, well, eyes, narrowed slightly as she cocked her head.  
  
“Oh?” She asked. “How strange. If it were me, I wouldn’t just up and leave some sweet little thing like you here all by yourself, but I suppose his priorities must be different.”  
  
“Oh, totally!” Mitsy butted in. “Are you kidding me?! You are just, like, the cutest thing I’ve ever seen! Is he crazy?!” The two cats’ comments were making Hinata feel increasingly uncomfortable, but he tried to brush it off.  
  
“Well, it’s not that Kageyama wanted to,” he tried to reason, “but his family wanted to bring him, so he had to go.” Yellow eyes made a short, somewhat derisive sounding ‘hmpf’ noise, still staring at him with that strange smile.  
  
“Ya know, I never did understand _pet _cats- always answerin’ to humans’ every beck and call. If I were him, well, I wouldn’t let some human pull me away from something as cute as you. No way in hell I’d let that happen,” she crooned, leaning in slightly. Hinata was definitely uncomfortable now, though he couldn’t quite figure out why. She’d only complimented him, she was just being nice, so why was she making him so nervous?__  
  
“Uh, th-thanks…?” He stuttered out. Yellow eyes’ smile grew somewhat wider and she moved in further, her face suddenly very close to him.  
  
“What’s your name, mousey?” She asked. Hinata swallowed, hard.  
  
“I-it’s, um, H-hinata,” he forced out, wringing his tail with his paws and trying his best to keep calm. Seriously, he needed to chill out! Kageyama got up in his face all the time! “Uh, what’s… er, what’s your name?”  
  
“Oh, how rude of me, I completely forgot to introduce myself. I’m Prima. Pleasure to meet ya, mousey,” she replied, still unsettlingly close.  
  
“Hi Prima!” He choked out. “Nice to meet you too!” Her smile grew even wider, teeth clearly visible now, and this time Hinata couldn’t suppress the shiver that wracked his body at the sight of them. His reaction did not go unnoticed.  
  
“What’s the matter, mousey?” Prima cooed. "Am I scaring ya?" Hinata struggled to regain his composure. By now he was incredibly uncomfortable, and he sort of hated himself for it. They had been nothing but nice to him, and yet here he was being all terrified of them just because they were cats! Sure, Prima was encroaching on his personal space quite a bit, and sure, they both had said a few things that didn’t exactly sit well with him, but nothing had been inherently malicious! Maybe this was just how cats were! After all, Tanaka had certainly been a pretty in-your-face type of guy, so maybe it was just that Kageyama was a little more standoffish than was typical, and this was just how cats behaved. He was overreacting.  
  
“No!” He squeaked. "You're f-fine!" Prima blinked slowly at him, still grinning.  
  
“Ya know, Hinata, you're the first mouse I ever met that hasn’t run away when it saw me, and I gotta say: that’s a pretty welcome change,” she drawled, leaning in even closer, close enough that he could see his own reflection in her eyes. “Normally, I have a much harder time catchin' you little shits.”  
  
Before he could even process what he’d just heard, Hinata was slammed onto his back, hard. His head spinning, he tried to get up but was quickly smacked back down and pinned there by a huge paw. The movement caused his head to crack against the floor with considerable force and he whimpered a bit, trying to blink away the stars that filled his vision.  
  
“What?! No fair!!!!” He heard Mitsy protest. “ _I _wanted to play with it!!!”__  
  
“Well too bad- I’m the one that grabbed it,” Prima replied. “You can play with the next one.”  
  
“But this one is so _cute _!!!” Mitsy whined.__  
  
“First come, first served,” Prima said. “Ya still get to watch.”  
  
“Hm, yeah, I guess that’ll still be pretty fun,” Mitsy conceded.  
  
The paw on his body increased it’s force, pushing down on him hard enough to force the air out of his lungs. Claws suddenly shot out, clacking against the floor on either side of his face and Hinata shrieked in terror, the reality of his situation finally beginning to set in. Prima’s face filled his vision, yellow eyes gleaming with what he now recognized as bloodlust, deadly sharp teeth bared in a delighted grin as she leaned in close to his shaking body.  
  
“Ya really shoulda listened to your gut, mousey.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you were wondering how they got in, remember that cat door I briefly mentioned earlier? That's also what that swishing noise Hinata thought he'd imagined was- them getting into the house. 
> 
> On the off chance that their behavior didn't make it clear; these two have a game they want to play that Hinata is _not _going to enjoy.__


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It all goes to shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay on the off chance I haven't been obvious enough about where this is going; what could probably be considered torture happens here. So for those who are freaked out by that stuff, maybe do a little bit of fast forwarding. For the rest of us though; here. Have this. 
> 
> Don't worry though, he'll be fine. 
> 
> .......Probably

Staring death straight in the gigantic, slit-pupiled yellow eyes really made one a whole lot more nauseous than it should. Really, what was the evolutionary advantage of that, anyway? Puke on the attacker to make them leave you alone? Hinata somehow doubted that would help. It would probably just make her kill him faster, and he didn’t figure it was a particularly dignified way to go out. Then again, getting ripped to pieces wasn’t exactly dignified either, but…  
  
The two cats were talking, arguing, it looked like, and Hinata tried to force his panic-addled brain to listen to them. Honestly, he probably should’ve just kept tuning them out, because what he heard only made it worse.  
  
“For the last fuckin’ time, Mitsy: I caught the damn thing- it’s mine! You can either shut yer mouth and watch, or you can get on out of here already!” Prima hissed, her agitation causing her to curl her paw inward so that the tips of her claws were now just barely brushing against Hinata’s shoulders.  
  
“But you’re, like, really bad at this game!” Mitsy complained. “I’m better, why can’t I have it?!”  
  
“I’m sorry- didja just say I was bad at this? ‘Cause if I recall correctly, it took ya- what? a day?- to kill the last mouse ya had?”  
  
“Uh, yeah, ‘cause that’s, like, the whole point! You’re supposed to drag it out, that’s what makes it fun! You just kill them in like, 12 seconds!”  
  
“I’m efficient!”  
  
“You’re a killjoy!”  
  
Despite being held completely still, Hinata felt dizzy, his mind reeling as it tried to comprehend the horror of what he was hearing. They were literally arguing over the most entertaining way to to kill him. He didn’t even want to think about what Mitsy must have done to make a death drag on for an entire day, but the few suggestions his idiot brain supplied him with anyway made his stomach churn. Despite his mounting horror, he was unable to block out the agitated voices of the cats above him.  
  
“Well obviously we can’t take too long, remember? It said that the house cat was supposed to be back early tomorrow, and we don’t wanna be here for that,” Prima argued. Hinata’s chest began to ache for a reason entirely unrelated to the massive paw pressing down on it.  
  
“Oh come on, Pri, we both saw that guy! Are you saying you don’t think you could take him?” Mitsy snorted.  
  
“Of course I could take a fuckin’ _pet _,” Prima hissed, spitting out the word as if it were the foulest thing she could think of. In her anger she once again increased the amount of force she was using to hold Hinata down, so much so that he could have sworn he heard his ribs creak under the pressure. He choked down the pained whine that came with that, not wanting to risk accidentally drawing their attention back to him. “I ain’t worried ‘bout no goddam house dweller, I’m worried ‘bout the humans. Pussy cat may not be a problem, but last time I checked, humans don’t respond too kindly to ya gettin’ in to their stuff. Figured you would know that, havin’ been whacked by a broom your fair share of times.”__  
  
“Ohhhh, right. Ugh, yeah, they really are, like, so unnecessarily violent!” Mitsy huffed, rolling her eyes. The irony of that particular statement did not escape Hinata. “We could just, like, take it somewhere else and play around there,” she suggested.  
  
“No!” Prima snapped. “We’re keeping it here!”  
  
“Uh, why?”  
  
“Because I wanna leave the stupid thing’s corpse as a present for the human loving pansy that lives here, that’s why!” Prima spat.  
  
“Yeesh. That’s like, kinda messed up,” Mitsy replied.  
  
“Messed up? I’m sorry- weren’t ya just tryna tell me the best way to drag out killing the damn mouse?” Prima argued.  
  
“I mean, yeah, but like, it’s a mouse. I just do it for my own entertainment- I don’t go around leaving whatever’s left as like, some sort of… I don’t know, threat, or whatever. What’s even the point? Like, why would you do that?”  
  
“Because if what that dumbass said is true, then apparently the house dweller here has some kinda freakish soft spot for this thing, so I reckon he’d be real upset if comes back and finds his pet in pieces,” Prima explained, grinning in delight at the idea.  
  
“Soooo... you’ve just got, like, some sort of weird personal vendetta against this guy, orrrr…..?”  
  
“Yeah I’ve got a vendetta: he’s a fuckin’ disgrace! All human lovers are! They’d choose to renounce everything that cats stand for just to be the pet of some giant, hairless idiots? Not to mention the fact that this one’s apparently in so deep he’s started tryna keep pets of his own- and a fuckin’ mouse of all things, too- I can’t stand it!” Prima ranted.  
  
She continued to rage on and on about the topic, but at that point Hinata was processing none of it, too caught up with the fact that he… he was actually going to die here, wasn’t he? Looking at it rationally, he didn’t really see any other outcomes. Kageyama wasn’t coming back until tomorrow; these two clearly didn’t have any moral quandaries about this; there was no way in hell he’d be able to successfully fight them off… this was it.  
  
He thought back to Kageyama, only a few minutes ago, promising he’d be back. He thought back to the teasing, and the kisses, and the many nights spent laying together, and as he did, he felt something like rage begin to build within him. He didn’t deserve this. Neither of them deserved this! Sure, he knew that he did have to die eventually, but this was just cruel! He didn’t deserve to ripped to pieces for some cat’s amusement, and Kageyama didn’t deserve the almost certainly traumatic experience of finding his friend’s mangled body. This wasn’t fair! This wasn’t fair this wasn’t fair this wasn’t fair this wasn’t fair thiswasn’tfairthiswasn’tfairthiswasn-  
  
“Oh my god! Is it crying? Awwww!! That’s so cute!!” He heard Mitsy squeal. Sure enough, Hinata felt the lump in his throat, as well as the sting in his eyes and the odd cold of the air against the tear tracks that had formed, trailing from the corners of his eyes down into his hair. He froze, the righteous anger of a second ago quickly being replaced once again by fear. The two cats had stopped arguing, and instead had their attention entirely on him. The look in their eyes made him feel as though his stomach had dropped out of his body.  
  
“Well I’ll be,” Prima drawled, fascinated. “I ain’t never seen one do that before.”  
  
“Yeah, of course you haven’t: you kill them before they get a chance to!” Mitsy replied, rolling her eyes.  
  
“Huh. ‘Spose I see the appeal…” Prima admitted, and before Hinata could get his hopes up that the two would start arguing again she shifted her attention back to him, leaning in close and grinning widely. “Sorry ‘bout that, mousey,” she crooned. “It was awful rude of us to just ignore ya like that for so long, but don’t worry: now we can get to the fun part.”  
  
The paw that wasn’t pinning him down reached over to Hinata, claws drawn, moving up to the mess of orange curls on his head. A single claw grazed slowly across the edge of his left ear, as if tracing its outline, and Hinata shuddered, squeezing his eyes tightly shut and trying, futility, to lean away.  
  
“Hmmmm… where to start?” Prima murmured. She’d leaned in so close Hinata could feel her breath against his skin. “Maybe I should cut these off?” she suggested, tracing her claw back around to stop at the base of Hinata’s ear. Hinata froze. She wouldn’t, right? There was no way she would actually- her claw pushed a little harder into his skin and he whimpered, not daring to move.  
  
“No!” He heard Mitsy protest. “Head wounds bleed like crazy, he’ll die way too fast! Besides, I like the ears! They’re just like, so adorable, you know?”  
  
Prima huffed in irritation, blowing Hinata’s hair back in the process. “‘Spose you’re right…” she muttered, drawing her left paw back and sitting up slightly so that her face was no longer practically right on top of him. There was silence for a moment, in which Hinata tried not to even breathe too hard. It had gone on just long enough that he was beginning to feel a bit confused when the sensation of one of the cat’s giant fingers moving caused his eyes to snap open.  
  
The gap wasn’t large enough for him to do anything with, much to his dismay. Instead, Prima just shifted her paw so that she still had him pinned, but was now able to move her index finger about freely without risking him being able to get away. The reason why didn’t remain a mystery for long. She paused for only a moment before placing the claw of her index finger on his chest, right in between his collar bones. The tears were flowing freely now, and through blurry vision he was able to see the manic grin on her face, the almost intoxicated look in her eyes as she stared down at him.  
  
“Heh. I can feel it’s heartbeat,” Prima remarked.  
  
“Well, duh!” Mitsy chimed in. “Look at it: it’s like, freaking out, of course you can feel its heartbeat!”  
  
Prima stared at him a moment longer, her tongue dragging across her teeth as she eyed him over before she began applying pressure with her claw, pushing the sharp tip down into Hinata’s skin, causing it to dimple before finally breaking. A bright red bead of blood oozed up from under her touch as Hinata made a strangled sound somewhere in between a gasp and a yelp. He heard Mitsy giggle in response.  
  
Prima then began to drag her claw down his chest, and Hinata finally started screaming. If hadn’t been panicking before; he was now. His heart beat so fast he was afraid it would burst. His body shook like crazy. His breathing was rapid and shallow, drawing in so little oxygen he felt he was somehow drowning on dry land. His mind had gone completely blank, unable to focus on anything but the unbearable pain as Prima slid her claw down his torso, stopping just at his belly button. She hadn’t cut very deep, obviously not wanting to damage him badly enough that he died right away, but it had been deep enough to bleed, and deep enough for it to hurt like hell.  
  
Hinata stared in horror, his chest heaving frantically as he struggled to breathe, eyes fixed on the sight of Prima leaning down to lick the blood off of her claw. His blood. His blood, which he could feel beginning to drip down from the shallow gash in his torso, carving little red trails across otherwise pale skin. Prima’s breathing had also notably changed, having grown much heavier, her eyes lidded as she stared with delight at the wound she’d left.  
  
Before he had a chance to process what was happening, the paw pinning him shifted, moving down so that it no longer covered his upper body, and Prima’s tongue was on his chest, dragging up across the slash in his skin. Hinata’s brain short circuited and he froze, paralyzed, his eyes wide. Yes, Kageyama had also licked him when they’d first met, but that had been different. Weird, yes, but different. Kageyama had been quick about it, light and curious, only really coming into contact with his forehead. Sure, that hadn’t exactly been great at the time but this… this was awful. Prima’s tongue was rough, further irritating the already painful cut, and she was as slow in this as she had been in cutting him in the first place- drawing it out to hurt him for as long as she could. Hinata choked out a sob. More than the pain, he just felt… violated, and scared, and he wanted to this to just. _STOP _.__  
  
A burst of adrenaline kicked in and Hinata wailed, struggling and fighting to get away from her with renewed vigor. The grip she’d had on him had been flimsy; really only pinning down his legs and leaving the rest of his body free. He managed to loosen said grip even more by slashing at her face with his tiny claws, making her paw jerk slightly off of him in both surprise and pain as she yelped, jolting back. Hinata wasted no time. Within milliseconds he was on his feet and sprinting away from them as fast as his legs could carry him. They were in the living room, only a few feet away from the den Hinata had made for himself in the wall behind the couch. If he could get to his den, he’d be safe.  
  
“YOU LITTLE SHIT!!” Prima shrieked. Hinata felt the air behind him move as the cat evidently snapped out of her shock, and he quickly grabbed hold of his tail, clutching it to his chest as he ran, wincing at the sting. Sure enough, Prima’s swipe hit the ground right below where his tail had been only a moment earlier. Sorry to disappoint, but he knew about that particular trick.  
  
Heart pounding, Hinata dove into his den, falling to his face and scrambling on all fours towards the very back. Not a moment too soon, either, as he heard the sound of Prima colliding with the couch practically the second he did. If he’d been any slower, she would’ve caught him- a fact that did not help his current nausea problem. Hinata pressed his back up against the far wall, staring into the furious yellow eyes that glared under the couch at him.  
  
Then, much to his horror, the eyes got closer as Prima began moving towards him, able to wiggle her way under the couch because _she was smaller than Kageyama _. That realization practically made his heart stop. He watched, paralyzed, as she squirmed towards him, eyes burning with malice, and then stopped, evidently stuck and unable to proceed any further. He breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed to the ground, weak knees unable to support him any longer… and then screamed when a paw slammed up against the entrance of his den.__  
  
“YOU’RE FUCKIN’ DEAD!!!” Prima howled, scratching at the wall. “I’LL RIP YOUR GODDAMN GUTS OUT, YA HEAR?! I’LL CUT YOUR TAIL OFF AND CHOKE YOU WITH IT!! I’LL GOUGE OUT YOUR FUCKING EYEBALLS AND WATCH YOU BLEED TO DEATH!!”  
  
Hinata began sobbing in earnest, curling up as small as he could against the back wall and squeezing his tail so tightly his knuckles turned white, doing his best to ignore the pain of the cut on his chest. As Prima continued to holler increasingly graphic descriptions of what she’d do to him, Hinata found himself unable to take in enough air, no matter what he did. Hyperventilating. He knew it was bad, and he knew it could be dangerous, but any attempts he could’ve made at trying to calm himself down were undercut by the horrible stream of threats being shouted at him, as well as the gigantic paw reaching towards him, close enough that he feared she would actually be able to grab him.  
  
His vision grew increasingly blurry, both from the tears that refused to stop coming and from the lack of oxygen his lungs were providing. He could feel his own blood, burning hot and tacky against his skin, the scent of metal so strong he could practically taste it, choking him.  
  
In spite of his best efforts, Hinata found himself overwhelmed, and fell unconscious.  
  
\----------------------------  
  
All day long, Kageyama had been unable to shake the feeling that something was horribly wrong. He’d only been at this “grandmother’s” house for a few hours, but the gnawing unease had made it feel more like days.  
  
He chalked it up to overreaction- anxiety over leaving Hinata alone for so long- but he still couldn’t quite get rid of it.  
  
And really, he knew he was being silly. Hinata had been just fine without him for most of his life. If anything, it was incredibly egotistical of him to be so concerned over leaving the little mouse alone. He wasn’t incompetent, and who the hell was Kageyama to be treating him like some stupid kitten (or whatever the mouse equivalent was)?  
  
But still… he found himself pacing around in front of the window, staring out at the sparse green grass and the cracked grey pavement of the street as if the answer to his current dilema lie somewhere within them. Really, this “grandmother's” house wasn’t that far from his own, and his family seemed pretty preoccupied, so he might actually be able to… No! He was being ridiculous!  
  
Sighing, Kageyama settled on the arm of the front couch, glaring at the small birds that flitted by, and at the dying rosebush, and at the grey tail of a cat wandering nearby, and at the- wait! He sat up and looked closer. Yup. That was Tanaka.  
  
Quickly, he hopped over to perch on the open windowsill and called out, (thought not loudly enough to risk alerting his family): “Tanaka! Oi! Tanaka!” As the other cat turned around, Kageyama silently reflected on how weird his life had become that he had actually gotten to the point of wanting to talk to this asshole.  
  
“Kageyama? Is that you?” Tanaka asked, running over. Kageyama glared at him.  
  
“No. I’m his evil twin.”  
  
“Seriously?”  
  
“NO! Of course it’s me, dumbass!” Kageyama hissed, irritated. Ugh, this was probably a mistake.  
  
“Alright, alright, jeez,” Tanaka muttered. “Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure you’re already the evil twin.”  
  
“Oh whatever,” Kageyama growled. He knew that yes, he had been the one to call Tanaka over in the first place, but he really wasn’t in the mood.  
  
“Whatcha doing here, anyway?” Tanaka asked.  
  
“My family’s visiting the person who lives in this house and bought me along with them,” Kageyama replied, rolling his eyes. “What are you doing here?”  
  
“I hang around here all the time, man! Old lady here leaves food out sometimes, so that rules. Plus, she’s got a birdfeeder in the backyard, so: free entertainment!” Tanaka responded, grinning. He looked around for a moment before asking: “Hey, where’s Hinata?”  
  
“Not here,” Kageyama said, frowning. The gnawing anxiety in his stomach resurged a bit.  
  
“Aww, really?” Tanaka complained. “That sucks! I love that little guy!”  
  
“Yeah…” Kageyama muttered,  
  
“Oh! Sorta related, actually,” Tanaka began. “I’ve been spreading the word!”  
  
“What?” Kageyama asked, staring at him, somewhat annoyed. The other cat’s sudden increase in volume had not been appreciated.  
  
“You know: the word! ‘Bout mice being, like, sentient, and shit!” Tanaka replied, not seeming at all phased by Kageyama’s irritation.  
  
“Ah. That word,” Kageyama said. “And how has that been going?” He had a feeling he already knew the answer to that question, and the way Tanaka’s face fell only furthered his suspicions.  
  
“Well… uh… kinda turns out that most of them already sorta… knew about the whole talking thing because of the, um... screaming, and, uh, begging, and all that…” Tanaka grimaced, trailing off.  
  
In spite of himself, Kageyama winced. Yeah, that sounded about right. His mind, ever unhelpful, provided flashbacks of the many times in which he’d frightened Hinata badly enough to make him cower. And he hadn’t even been trying to cause any harm. Tanaka kept talking, but Kageyama largely tuned it out, instead being dragged down a particularly shitty memory lane.  
  
“... but still, I didn’t figure that many of them knew about the actual sentience thing, right? Because, if they knew that mice had, like, I dunno, feelings and shit, there was no way they’d be doing that, right? I mean sure, they knew that mice could talk, but maybe they didn’t think that they could feel, you know?” Tanaka explained. Kageyama silently disagreed with him on that one. He supposed that some part of him appreciated the other cat’s relentless insistence upon assuming the best in people, but…  
  
“So, actually, just earlier today, I met up with these two other cats that I sorta knew in an alley not that far from here, and I knew for a fact that those two were uh, pretty into ‘the game’, and I said to them: “Hey, you know, you really shouldn’t keep doing that, ‘cause like, mice are actually sentient, so it’s pretty fucked up,” and they were like: “what the hell are you talking about?” so I said: “yeah, I know it sounds crazy, but it’s totally true! I know a mouse, he’s really nice, lives around here with another cat, actually, which, yeah- sounds like complete bogus, but it isn’t- but anyway, he’s a mouse, and he’s a real sweetheart, and he gets along with cats just fine, so we totally can, like, coexist or whatever, so really, if you’re gonna attack something, you should probably just go ahead and attack birds ‘cause I’m like, 99% sure they aren’t sentient, and birds are fucking assholes, so-”  
  
“Wait, what did you just say?!” Kageyama barked, interrupting him.  
  
“Uh, that birds are fucking assholes?” Tanaka asked.  
  
“No, not that! Before that!”  
  
“Which part of it?”  
  
“The part where you fucking told another cat where Hinata and I live??” Kageyama hissed. Tanaka seemed not to understand what the problem was.  
  
“Well, two other cats, actually-” he started.  
  
“Two?!” Kageyama yelled. “That’s even worse!”  
  
“Hey, calm down, man!” Tanaka said. “Why are you so freaked out? I was trying to talk them out of playing that godawful game, and I figured mentioning, like, a real example would be more convincing! Like, I don’t even play that game, but if you had just come up to me and tried to tell me that mice were sentient, I’d think you were batshit! I only believe it because I’ve met Hinata!”  
  
“Yeah, okay, that’s great, but did you ever consider the possibility that they might not give a shit?!” Kageyama shouted. Tanaka looked confused.  
  
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” He asked.  
  
“It means that it’s entirely possible that neither of them care whether or not the mice they’re killing have feelings, and you just told them where Hinata, _A MOUSE _, lives!” Kageyama shrieked. How was this so hard to understand?__  
  
“But… if they knew, then why would they still do it? It’s horrible!” Tanaka asked, though by now a look of dawning horror was beginning to cross his face.  
  
“Because some people are just horrible, Tanaka,” Kageyama snapped. “Did you really think that two cats who, as you said, really enjoy playing a game that’s all about torturing mice, would be stopped by being told that it was wrong?”  
  
“Well, when you put it that way, I guess it sounds kinda stupid…” Tanaka muttered, having gone pale.  
  
“When I put it _any _way it sounds stupid!” Kageyama yelled. Tanaka flinched.__  
  
“I- I didn’t think-”  
  
“That much is obvious!”  
  
“Kageyama I’m sorry I-” Tanaka started. But he didn’t get a chance to finish because by then, Kageyama had already shoved past him out the open window and begun sprinting, full speed, in the direction of his house, praying to every single force he could think of that he wasn’t about to be too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prima is actually the name of a cat that I work with at the humane society who has been known for doing absolutely terrible, unspeakable things to mice, so that's where that came from.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aftermath

Though the “grandmother’s” house had not seemed to far away on the way there, it seemed like the distance between the earth and the moon to Kageyama as he ran back. Distantly, his brain had already begun doing the math, and he didn’t like any of the results it came up with. He’d been gone for hours. He’d been gone for hours, and it was taking him far too long to get back home.  
  
Night had fallen by the time he finally got home, and he nearly injured himself leaping over the fence to the backyard so he could slip in through the cat door in the back. Fuck. The cat door. Any hopes he’d been having of the mystery cats not being able to actually get into the house were dashed.  
  
The house was completely dark, a fact that Kageyama normally wouldn’t even have noticed given how good his night vision was, but that now made the atmosphere seem even more tense. The only thing he could hear was his own heartbeat, pounding forcefully in his ears, and the distant sound of a dog barking somewhere. No tiny footsteps, no cheerful voice, no rustle of blankets. Nothing.  
  
“Hinata?!” Kageyama called out, well aware of the fact that his voice sounded panicked. No reply. Frantic, he ran towards the front room, the last place he’d seen the little mouse earlier that day.  
  
His eyes darted around, searching desperately for any sign of his tiny companion. Something smelled strange in here, though he couldn’t quite place it. As he stepped forward, his right paw made contact with a strange stain on the ground that he was pretty sure hadn’t been there earlier. Curious, Kageyama leaned in to get a better look at what it was, noting that the odd, metallic scent he’d been picking up on was even stronger here, and then reeled back in horror. Blood. Specifically, dried blood, meaning it had been here for quite a some time. Bile rose in the back of his throat.  
  
“HINATA?!!” Kageyama shrieked, his voice high and cracking. His stomach lurched dangerously and he lifted up his hand to try and cover his mouth, but stopped at the sight of the brown flakes stuck to his skin. Ohhh he was definitely gonna throw up. Oh god. Oh god no. No no no no no no no nonononononononononononono-  
  
“K- Kageyama…?” a small voice whispered.  
  
He whirled around.  
  
\-------------------------  
  
The amount of time that Hinata technically spent unconscious wasn’t really very long. Honestly, it was probably only around a few seconds. Still though, even after technically waking up, he wasn’t exactly… lucid.  
  
He spent what felt like several hours, but was indeed probably only a few minutes, unable to focus on anything other than keeping himself as close to the back wall as possible. He could hear the two cats yelling at each other, and at him. At one point Mitsy, smaller even than Prima, wormed her way under the couch and actually managed to get her paw into his den, but thankfully was not able to reach back far enough to actually grab him. They stayed like that for what felt like forever, hissing threats and taunts and scratching the walls to get at him, all while Hinata stayed curled up as small as possible, unable to block out the horror of his situation.  
  
The adrenaline that flooded his system was making him shaky and dizzy, much like when he’d gone on his involuntary hunger strike a few months ago. He flattened his ears down into his head with clammy paws, as if hoping to somehow drown out the sounds of furious voices and claws raking against plaster. It didn’t help. His chest stung painfully. The wound was shallow enough that it should have stopped bleeding a while ago, but it was so large that he kept reopening it as he fidgeted, wincing every time he did so.  
  
At some point, they must have realized that their efforts were fruitless, as their voices faded away and the house once again fell silent, save for the sound of Hinata’s own panicked breathing. He didn’t budge. For all he knew, they hadn’t actually left, and were lurking somewhere outside of his sight, waiting for him to leave so that they could make good upon the gorey promises they’d made.  
  
For what could’ve been minutes, hours, or even days, Hinata lay there, curled up in the fetal position on the floor, pressed against the back wall of his den, clutching his tail so tight he had lost feeling. His blood had dried by now, going from tacky and sticky to dried and flaking off his skin. The smell of iron was nauseating.  
  
The sound of the cat door in the back swooshing made his heart stop. Were they back? Why were they back? They wouldn’t come back unless they’d somehow figured out a way to finally get at him. An indistinct shout came from the other side of the house, effectively killing off any hopeful notion he’d had that maybe he’d just been imagining it. His eyes burned and he tried to make himself even smaller.  
  
Hinata heard the click of a cat’s unsheathed claws on the hardwood floors and choked out a sob. He didn’t want to die. Why couldn’t they just leave him alone? The clicking got closer, entering the living room, and Hinata forced his hand over his own mouth in an attempt to silence himself. He saw needle-tipped paws moving about the room, closer and closer to where he lay, and squeezed his eyes shut, feeling tears trace their way down his face. He didn’t want to look.  
  
“HINATA?!!” A voice shrieked, sounding panicked, and Hinata’s eyes snapped open in disbelief. In spite of his fear, he crawled towards the entrance of his den and peeked out to see the shaking form of a black cat he’d feared he’d never see again.  
  
“K-Kageyama?” He asked, his voice wobbling. The cat’s head snapped around to look at him, familiar blue eyes wide.  
  
\------------------------------  
  
Kageyama’s heart skipped a beat and for a moment he stood there, frozen, staring at the tiny redhead. Hinata… didn’t look too good. He was paler than usual, shaking violently, with red rimmed eyes and a tear streaked face, and Kageyama swore he could see blood beneath the tail that Hinata clutched to his chest but he was alive.  
  
“I-is that re-really you?” Hinata whispered, his voice somewhat raspy. That snapped him out of it, and Kageyama bounded forward, stopping short right in front of the little mouse.  
  
“Hinata! Oh thank fuck, you’re alive!” He shouted, taking care to reign his voice back in at Hinata’s flinch. “I’m so sorry I’m late! I never should’ve left, or, or, I should’ve been faster, or I should’ve bought you with me, I-”  
  
“Kageyama-”  
  
“I couldn’t find you and I smelled blood and I saw the blood on the floor and I thought-”  
  
“I-I’m fine, really I-”  
  
“God, who did this to you? I’ll fucking kill them. Where are they? I swear I’ll-”  
  
“Kage-”  
  
“No, you know what? I’ll kill Tanaka first, and then them! He’s the one who caused this whole mess in the first place. He’s so gonna pay for this I will-”  
  
“ _Kageyama! _” Hinata shouted, his voice cracking, and Kageyama finally stopped, looking down. He looked like he was on the verge of crying again, and Kageyama’s stomach dropped. What the hell was he doing? Hinata needed him right now.__  
  
Without hesitation, he scooped the mouse into his hands and held him up to his face, rubbing a comforting finger in between the tiny shoulder blades in the hopes of soothing him. He could feel Hinata shaking, and his heart ached at how miserable the little mouse looked.  
  
“I’m sorry, I just…” Kageyama trailed off. Hinata just let out a wordless whine, trembling even more. Shit, was he having some sort of break down? Panicking slightly, Kageyama started talking.  
  
“Hey, hey, hey, shhh, it’s okay, you’re okay,” Kageyama whispered softly. Hinata sobbed, but grabbed hold of the cat’s pinky finger and burying his face into the larger boy’s skin. “You’re alright, Hinata- you’re safe. It’s over. I’m here, I’ve got you, I’m not gonna let anything hurt you.”  
  
Figuring it was probably best to change location, Kageyama moved towards their shared nest, clutching the tiny mouse to his chest the whole way, silently taking comfort in the rapid heartbeat he could feel against his fingers and the body heat radiating off the little redhead. Once they reached the nest, Kageyama set Hinata down on the blankets, immediately laying down near him, making sure to keep contact with the mouse at all times.  
  
“Is there anything you need?” Kageyama asked. “Anything I can get you?” Hinata sniffled and shook his head.  
  
“No… just, please don’t leave…” Hinata murmured, clinging tight to Kageyama’s thumb.  
  
“Okay. Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere,” Kageyama whispered, brushing his index finger through the messy orange hair in between the two round ears.  
  
“Thank you…” Hinata responded, lightly kissing Kageyama’s hand, making the big cat smile.  
  
“Of course,” Kageyama cooed, leaning in and pressing a gentle kiss to Hinata’s head. And then another, and another, and another, until he was peppering the tiny mouse with affectionate pecks, finally managing to make his little lover giggle, the sound like music to his ears. Knowing well how much Hinata liked it, Kageyama placed a kiss on the mouse’s stomach, taking extra care to be as gentle as possible with the cut on his torso. He felt Hinata lean up and kiss him right back, pecking him on the bridge of his nose. He lingered there, pressed against Hinata’s skin, reveling in the heat that radiated off of him.  
  
“I’m so happy you’re safe…” Kageyama whispered, the movement of his lips against Hinata’s skin making the little redhead shiver happily and let out a pleased hum.  
  
“Mmm, you too…” Hinata said. Kageyama finally pulled away, leaning back to stare curiously at the tiny mouse.  
  
“What do you mean? Why wouldn’t I have been?” He asked.  
  
“Hmm, I dunno, I’m just happy you are,” Hinata replied. His sweet brown eyes were lidded and sleepy, shining with and admiration that Kageyama was sure he reflected.  
  
“...I’m so sorry I wasn’t here sooner,” Kageyama muttered, casting his eyes down. The shame that had been eating at his gut resurged, though his attention was pulled away from it by the feeling of two tiny paws placing themselves on his cheeks.  
  
“Hey, no, it wasn’t your fault!” Hinata protested. He looked upset at the very idea, his face pitying. “You couldn’t have known! I’m just so glad you’re here, Kageyama, please don’t blame yourself!”  
  
“Heh,” Kageyama exhaled, smiling slightly. “You’re way too forgiving, you know that?”  
  
“No, you’re just way too serious,” Hinata teased, grinning widely for a moment before his face returned to that hazy look of affection from earlier. “...Love you…” he whispered.  
  
Kageyama slid his eyes shut in contentment, leaning back in to kiss the little redhead.  
  
“Love you too,” he murmured, purring softly.  
  
When his family burst in the next morning, it was a bit chaotic. While Hinata was kept nestled in their shared nest, exhausted from the trauma of yesterday, Kageyama went to face the music. Ellie spotted him almost the second she walked in the door, bounding over to him wailing and grabbing him, shouting about how much she’d missed him and how much he’d scared her by running off. The parents similarly tried to lecture him for running away, but they seemed to be more relieved to see him than angry at his disappearance. A part of him felt a little guilty for scaring Ellie that badly, but he didn’t regret it in the slightest. Hinata had needed him, and he’d do whatever he could to be there for him. Sorry Ellie, but he had someone to protect.  
  
He’d managed to sneak away from his family after a few hours to go check on Hinata, who by then had woken up, but remained snuggled into the blankets, smiling happily at the sight of Kageyama entering the room and holding his arms out, making grabby motions with his hands. Kageyama gladly obliged, striding over and flopping down into the nest, scooping Hinata up and kissing him, feeling the mouse giggle happily against his lips.  
  
“How are you feeling?” Kageyama asked, pulling back to look at Hinata, once again rubbing the redhead’s back with his index finger, delighting in the chirp he received from that.  
  
“Better,” Hinata replied. “Definitely better now,” he added, nuzzling against Kageyama.  
  
“Great,” Kageyama responded. “Does it still hurt?” He asked, eyeing his little lover’s torso for any signs of further damage or problems he may have overlooked the night before.  
  
“Mmmm, a little,” Hinata mumbled. “But it’s nowhere near as bad as it was yesterday. I guess it wasn’t really that bad in the first place… it was really more scary than anything else…”  
  
“Well, that’s good I guess,” Kageyama replied, tamping down the rage that threatened to rear its head once again. He’d have time to be mad later, right now he needed to make sure Hinata was as comfortable as possible.  
  
“Yeah, I guess it is,” Hinata said. They both sat there silently for a moment, before Hinata gestured for Kageyama to lean down. The cat obliged, smiling as he felt the little mouse clamber up onto his head and nestle down into his hair. The feeling of Hinata playing with his hair made Kageyama purr happily, as did the sound of the happy little giggle that Hinata let out at his actions.  
  
“You’re gonna mess up my hair, dumbass,” Kageyama teased.  
  
“Too bad!” Hinata replied, and Kageyama got the distinct sense he’d just stuck his tongue out.  
  
The steady purring of the cat beneath him prompted Hinata to fall asleep after only a few minutes. Once he did, Kageyama reached up and gently scooped the mouse into his hand, staring fondly at the rise and fall of Hinata’s chest.  
  
After placing one last kiss in between two round, orange ears, Kageyama lay back and clutched Hinata to his chest, curling up and settling in for a well deserved nap.


End file.
